I was a huge fan of Messaging Everywhere on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. It was simple, clean and incredibly fast. And it was built right into the universal Messaging app, which I adore to this day for it's clean, minimalistic look. So when Microsoft announced it was killing Messaging Everywhere in favor of Skype SMS Relay, I was sad. Very sad.
However, I convinced myself that maybe Skype would do it well. So after waiting a long time for SMS Relay to show up in the Skype universal app, I was disappointed by how slow, ugly and unfinished the app was. But it was still in preview, so it wasn't really fair to judge.
Now the universal Skype app is no longer in preview, and I decided to try it again. I switched my default SMS client from the Messaging app to Skype, and I set up my desktop and laptop for SMS relay with my phone. The set-up process was easy enough. You just enable SMS Relay and then type in a security passcode on the device you want to relay from.
Has Skype really improved?
My original gripes with the Skype Preview app had to do with sluggish performance, terrible contact and conversation management, and most importantly, unreliable SMS relaying.
Let's dive into the sluggish performance issue first. With the Skype app coming out of preview, the performance has improved. However, it's not as fast as I'd like it to be, and it's definitely not as fast as the original Messaging app with Messaging Everywhere. No matter how you put it, the Skype app is still slower than the Messaging app.
I know the Skype app has a lot more to deal with than the Messaging app, but that's not the point. Microsoft wants me to use the Skype app for SMS Relay instead of the much faster Messaging app. If the company wants me to use Skype, at least make it as fast as the older system first. I'm still not impressed with how slow the Skype app is. I know many people don't care, especially with Actionable Notifications, but I do. I want it to be, at minimum, the same speed as the Messaging app.
Moving onto contact and conversation management. Skype Preview was an absolute dog when it came to managing contacts and conversations. More often than not, I'd find duplicate contacts in my Skype contacts list because the app didn't know how to merge contacts with the same number. That meant you'd usually find two conversations for the same person, one with Skype messages and one with SMS messages. It was a mess. I'm pleased that with the Skype app exiting preview, these issues have been mostly mended.
Apart from one time where it returned (briefly), I've had no issues with contact management or conversation duplicates with the Skype app. Skype seems to now understand that you might already have a contact in your address book, and instead of duplicating, it merges them instead. That's a nice touch.
Finally, SMS relay reliability. When in preview, Skype failed to send an SMS from my PC or laptop around 40 percent of the time. With the app now out of preview, I've yet to see the app fail to send an SMS. I'm super impressed with how much more reliable SMS is now, and I'm very happy to see it has improved.
Skype as my main messaging app?
So will I be using the universal Skype app for my SMS needs from now on? No. While there have been some great improvements it's still not perfect. For one, the UI is rubbish and looks entirely unfinished. I like the clean minimalistic look of the Messaging app.
Above all, the Skype app is still slow compared to the Messaging app. I like being able to jump into the Messaging app and start a conversation incredibly quickly. With Skype, it takes a few seconds longer. Hopefully this will be improved in upcoming releases.
What do you think? Does the universal Skype app deserve to be out of preview? Do you use it as your main messaging app?
