We’re pleased to announce the next phase of the Skype for Business Mac Preview, which—on top of the meetings functionality released in April—brings a new set of functionalities to the app.

Oct 19, 2016 Re: Skype for Business Mac additional features Don't ever expect that to happen, Microsoft has clearly announced that Teams is the future. The Teams client on Mac and Windows are identical and both fantastic. Skype Preview is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Skype Preview for iOS is available through Apple's TestFlight program. Join the Windows Insider Program to help us build the next Skype for Windows 10. Skype Preview is available for Mac, Linux and Android. Skype Preview for iOS is available through Apple's TestFlight program.

Let’s take a look at what’s new:

• Contacts and presence—See whether a contact is offline or online, whether they’re busy, in a meeting or available, and easily start an IM conversation.
• Peer-to-peer (P2P) calling—Call other Skype for Business users directly using voiceover IP.
• Group video calling—Now you can see up to four meeting participants simultaneously.
• Conversation history—View a list of previous conversations and restart them at will.

With group video calling, you can talk face-to-face with colleagues no matter where they’re located.

Microsoft Skype For Business Mac Preview 2017

How to get these updates

There has been tremendous interest in the preview, with over 22,000 individuals, representing more than 7,000 organizations, signing up since it opened on April 26. We are now at capacity for the number of preview participants and are no longer accepting registrations. For existing preview participants, the app will automatically check for updates each time it starts.

What’s next

We expect to release the third phase of preview functionality in the summer, including voice features like the ability to dial out to a traditional phone number. And we are still targeting to make the Skype for Business Mac client generally available this fall. In between these moments, we will release minor updates to resolve any issues and address your feedback.

Thanks again for your interest!

Microsoft Skype For Business Mac Preview Free

—Paul Cannon, senior product marketing manager for the Skype for Business team

Let me start by saying that I am a huge Mac fan living in a Microsoft world. I use the Microsoft Lync client on my Mac extensively for all my communications and meetings. This include all my business phone calls, conference calls, screen share sessions, and video calls. I am running Office for Mac 2016 versions with the Lync 2011 for Mac with the Feb. 2016 update.

Overall, I am very pleased with the experience and it works well for me. There are two main limitations that I have encountered.

The limitations I have discovered and my work arounds:

1. I am not able to see meetings in the calendar section of the Lync client. I almost always have Outlook open on my computer and can join all meetings from there easily. Outlook (2016) does allow you all the functionality for creating and scheduling meetings. Joining meetings from Outlook can be just one click with Firefox as your default browser. I have been able to make Safari work, but it takes a few more clicks.

2. Instant Messaging (IM) history in Outlook is hit or miss. There is a conversation history in the client. However, the history is not a full history that would be available in Outlook conversation history folder.

I am very excited about the release of the new Microsoft Skype for Business for Mac client. The new client will be a phased released throughout the year. I am part of the preview program and have been using the new client for the past few weeks.

The overall experience is not the greatest. With that being said, this is the preview phase of the first release. First off, it is not a full client yet. It only allows connecting to a Skype meeting. Contacts, IM and PSTN dialing have not been implemented yet. I’ve used it quite a bit to join some conferences and it has worked pretty well. The only issue I’ve had is on some long conferences, I’ve had it drop me a few times but, I was able to quickly rejoin.

Microsoft is promoting the evaluation client UI as a new look and feel. I find that the UI is near-identical to the standard iOS client. The client does include Conversation History that shows up under “recent” on the login screen.

Microsoft Skype For Business Mac Preview 1

Maybe yes, maybe no. According to Microsoft, if you’re a regular user of the commercial version of Skype, then Microsoft Skype for Business Mac will seem very familiar: your photo, presence indicator, and easy to use buttons and icons should make you feel right at home.

Microsoft Skype For Business Mac Preview Download

Improved meeting experiences

Easy one-click join feature, full-screen video, and a choice of views make the experience for meetings smoother and easier than ever.

• One-click join: Join an online meeting without going through Outlook. Problem solved!
• Meeting actions: Easily mute, add participants, IM your colleagues, and view the shared desktop.
• Video: Full screen and high-quality video for a better meeting experience.

Only these features are available in this build of Skype for Business for Mac Preview. More features will be added as they become available and we will update you as we test the next phase and new features.

Preview App

Ready to learn more?