Microsoft will now activate free Skype minutes automatically when you buy Office 365 (Updated)

When you buy a Office 365 subscription in many countries, you get 60 minutes a month to call over 60 destinations worldwide with Skype. However, to take advantage of this offer, you need to activate it manually from Microsoft Accounts page. Microsoft has now finally realized that this extra step is actually not needed. As part of the new Skype Insider build (v8.39.76.176) announcement, Microsoft today announced that your Skype minutes will now be activated automatically when you buy a Office 365 subscription. This new build also comes with following new improvements:

• Caller ID prompts: If you do not have Caller ID set up for your outgoing calls and SMS messages you will be prompted to set it up. This way people will know it’s you when you call or send them an SMS message from Skype!
• Don’t forget about unsent messages anymore! You will find conversations with unsent messages at the top of your recent chats list marked as drafts. You can quickly come back to them, finish and send.

Updated build details:

• Store app version 8.39.76.176 for iPhone, iPad, Android 6+, and Android tablets and 8.39.76.181 for Windows
• Desktop app version 8.39.76.176 for Mac and Linux and 8.39.76.181 for Windows
• Web version 8.39.76.176

These new features will be rolled out gradually to Skype Insiders.

Update:

Skype team has now informed us that they have pushed the free Skype minutes activation feature to a future release.