Does the Skype chat app in your smartphone taking too much space, using up most of your mobile data, doesn’t work if there is no 4G connection and overall hangs your mobile? Well, Microsoft too knows that, so the company has launched Skype Lite app built for India. A lightweight, battery-friendly chat app that optimized to run even on 2G mobile networks. The app uses fewer data and power, comes with Indian local language support and many new features specifically designed for Indians.
Digging deep into the app, Skype Lite got a total size of just 13MB. Well, the size doesn’t matter much, as the app comes with almost all features of its own full-fledged app. It works flawlessly even on 2G network and uses less mobile internet data and less battery power. The app compresses the data when on mobile network. Thus it uses fewer data to send and receive messages, and make and receive voice or video calls. As the mobile data is less used, the app requires less battery power and minimise issues with the app draining the battery.
In addition to the usual online chat, Skype Lite also supports native SMS integration with SMS filtering/spam blocking option. It can also be used along with your phone dialer and support call logs. As you may know, all voice calls to the USA and Canda number are free on Skype. Localising the experience, Skype Lite comes in seven Indian regional languages. This includes Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Another interesting feature is the support for Skype Bots that’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered and can do various tasks. Like providing curated news based on your interest every day, horoscope reading and so on.
Skype Lite app features
- Only 13MB app size, which is less than half the size of original Skype mobile app.
- Works smoothly on 2G or in challenging network conditions.
- Photos and video content are compressed to save data and battery.
- Native SMS, and phone dialer support along with mobile data and Wi-Fi usage monitoring.
- Less battery power consumed by the Skype Lite app.
- Support for Skype bots.
- Available in seven local languages – Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
One major addition coming to Skype later this year would be the Aadhaar integration. Using this you can verify the identity of an unknown caller in a variety of situations like during job interview, property sale etc. Those who are concerned with the privacy, once the call ends, Skype will wipe all Aadhaar data from its system.