Help · Mac apps
How to remove Skype from your Mac.
Microsoft retired Skype on 5 May 2025. The app no longer works, so there's no reason to keep it, but it can still be taking up space and starting at login.
Your chats and contacts
Microsoft moved Skype users to Microsoft Teams (free): signing in to Teams with your Skype account brings your contacts and chats across. Microsoft's window for exporting Skype data has now closed (its support page gave June 2026), so if you didn't move or export in time, Microsoft's Skype support page is the place to check what's still available. Skype for Business is a different product and wasn't affected.
Remove the app
- Quit Skype if it's running (check the menu bar).
- Drag Skype from Applications to the Trash, and empty the Trash.
- Check System Settings › General › Login Items and remove Skype if it's still listed. If you haven't emptied the Trash yet, it can stay listed under Allow in the Background until you do, or until you restart; that's normal macOS behaviour, not a sign it wasn't removed.
Microsoft no longer publishes Mac removal steps for Skype or a list of the files it kept, so we don't list paths here. Folders named after Skype in your Library are its settings and local data; see leftovers of deleted apps.
Based on Microsoft's Skype retirement page and Apple's standard steps, checked October 2026.
Then check for anything left behind.
Once the app is gone, Pangalin Uninstaller's free Leftovers scan lists files left behind by apps that are no longer installed, by name and size. Apple's files are never included. It also shows where each one is and moves the ones you choose to the Trash in one go, with Undo.
Completely free · No account · Notarised by Apple · Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later