Skype Dial Pad
Microsoft slaughtered Skype, integrated its remains into the "Free" version of Teams and called it a day. If you look closely, you'll notice what a sloppy job they did.
Two of the coolest features of Skype revolved around landline capabilities. For one, Skype allowed you to make calls to landlines all around the world via data (Skype to Phone). The other allowed you to purchase international VoIP telephone numbers (Skype Number). Both of these features are paramount if you're travelling as much as I do.
So many services in our modern world rely on the legacy technology that are landlines. I used Skype to Phone to make local phone calls abroad or international phone calls to my home country. My Skype Number came in handy, when I relied on a local phone number to receive SMS, e.g. for 2FA (which is—sadly—still awfully inflationary in today's day and age).
So what happened to these two paramount features, when Skype has been taken apart to become MS Teams Free?
The dial pad
The features are still here, just very hidden. In the menu of the MS Teams mobile app, you can access them via "Skype Dial Pad".
But what happens next is an insult to every user out there: The Dial Pad opens in a web view, which obviously is breaking the user experience. A login prompt loads and at least they made the effort to pass along the login info from the app.
Then, you find yourself on the screen you know and love from better days: when Skype was still Skype. However, the whole experience is absolute shite. The Skype Dial Pad lies atop the actual app in a web view and feels entirely broken.
Not just the experience is broken, but also my heart as a UX Designer. However, the design teams must have had their reasons for tearing Skype apart like that (more on that later). I discovered a little workaround that allows me to use the Dial Pad as a separate app on my iPhone that opens natively instead of as a web view. Also, you don't have to login every single time you open it, or access it via the menu of the MS Teams app.
Once you have the dodgy web view of the dial pad open, click the share button in the bottom of the screen and choose "Add to home screen". Name it "Skype Dial Pad" (or similar) and you'll have it as a separate app that lets you access the desired features (near-) natively.
Even though I'm very proud of this workaround, I have found that the infamous slaughterhouse—more commonly known as "Microsoft"—are apparently phasing out these wonderful features that have done so much for me over the past years. If you still have Skype Credit, you can use it with my workaround, but you can't recharge it any more, so I reckon it's just a matter of time before they remove the features altogether.
Another amazing service on the internet that was sunset by big tech, apparently because that's not where the money lies. Rest in peace, Skype to Phone, Skype Number and Skype Credit. Rest in peace, Skype. You will be missed. 🪦