14 DAY TRIAL // A new version of Skype is rolling out today for iOS customers. It’s not a feature update, but rather a maintenance release that adds support for the latest Apple devices. The update has yet to hit the App Store.
Skype is one of the many apps in the iTunes Store that is in dire need of a new UI for the iPhone 6 Plus. Apps that haven’t been optimized for the device’s large screen will display zoomed, enlarged unnaturally, wasting space and looking downright odd.
A native experience from iPhone 4 to iPhone 6 Plus
Skype for iOS continues to support iPhone 4 (essentially the oldest iPhone to be able to run iOS 7) as well as old iPads. However, with the emergence of this year’s new iPhones, the development team saw it was necessary to crank up their engines and start optimizing the app for the two devices.
The team makes the news official on the Skype Garage blog, saying, “Today we’re releasing Skype 5.6 for iPhone, which brings optimized, scaled UI to the larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ screen sizes.”
Skype 5.6 is unavailable in the App Store at the time of this writing, but it should roll out soon.
The development team notes that the new version displays more of your recent chats on the larger devices, as the comparison shot shows (above, click to enlarge). The new GUI also shows more messages per conversation view.
“Skype 5.6 for iPhone is our second release that continues to build on the new iOS 8 extensions. Now whether you’re using an iPhone 4 or an iPhone 6+ you’ll get the best Skype experience for your screen size,” says the Skype team.
“We are continuing to work on bringing you new features to further enhance the Skype on iPhone experience. Have a great idea that you want to share? Let us know via the new iOS Ideas group in the Skype Community,” the team concludes.
Prequisites, iPad version
Skype for iPhone and iPad still asks only for iOS 7, and the new version isn’t expected to require a newer firmware since the development team notes that iPhone 4 devices are still supported.
It’s unclear if the iPad version is set to receive the 5.6 update, since the release is focused entirely on the iPhone experience. The download will be free as always, while the app supports English, Bokmål, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, and Traditional Chinese.