Microsoft starts testing native Skype app for M1 Mac

Microsoft has released Skype Insider 8.94.76.302, and the most significant announcement in this update is the native Skype app for M1 Mac devices. A native Skype app for M1 Mac will be much faster than the current one.

For those who do not know, the current Skype app on Mac is designed to run on Intel-based devices. But thanks to Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation software, all the apps that were initially designed to run on Intel-based Macs can run on M1 Mac devices with a minimal performance drop. A native Skype app will no longer rely on Apple’s translation software to run smoothly on ARM-based Macs.

It is not the first time Microsoft is extending its support to Apple’s ARM effort. Last year, the software giant introduced a new Teams app to run natively on ARM-based Mac computers. Skype will now join Teams to become one of the most popular Microsoft applications that run on M series-powered Macs natively.

Microsoft is testing the native Skype app with those running the latest Skype Insider build. If you are not an Insider, you may have to wait a month or so for Microsoft to release it for everyone. Microsoft will probably replace the current Skype app on Mac with the native app through an app update. The performance of the native Skype app should be faster than the current one on your M-series Mac.

Apart from a native app, the latest Skype Insider build has stability improvements and lots of bug fixes. For example, Microsoft has fixed an issue with reading and opening files. It also fixed the app crashing, Skype notifications issues, and more. You can read the complete official changelog below.

Skype 8.94.76.302 changelog

Microsoft is rolling out the latest Skype Insider build in a phased manner, so changes will be rolled out to users in the next couple of days instead of everyone getting them on the same day.