Well well well! What a triumph for backward compatibility! Days ago I just blogged and whined about how disappointed I am that Skype 8.1 dropped support for the iPhone 5.
It looks like Skype has learned the error in its ways and have brought us iPhone 5 users back into its loving arms.
I’m guessing I wasn’t a lonely voice in the desert asking them to repent because just a few days after the shocking release of 8.1 they released 8.1.2 announcing that the “issue” of backward compatibility has been “fixed”.
No, its not an oversight on their part at all. They really meant to initially kick us iPhone 5 users out of the Snapchat-like update. Otherwise this compatible device list wouldn’t have been updated.
That screenshot of the 8.1 update states explicitly that device compatibility starts from iPhone 5s and up. I have suspected that this is their way of heeding Apple’s “gentle” encouragement that developers update their apps to be exclusively 64-bit compatible.
Now, I have nothing against progress, mind you. But looking at the updates and features they included in 8.1, I don’t feel like 64-bit is absolutely required. Sure there will be features that the iPhone 5’s hardware cannot support but in terms of the basic functionality plus a few bells and whistles, it should still work decently. So why hold out on us poor iPhone 5 users, right?
The newest update, 8.1.2 now indicate backward compatibility with all iOS devices running iOS 9 and up. See below.
What’s more, this Snapchat-like update as I’d like to call it, boasts a lot of new features for fans of customization, stickers and all other fancy stuff we’re more familiar with from other messaging/social media apps.
Are you bored with Skype’s blue theme? Well here you go. You can now change it as you please.
And it even showers you with praises at every step of the tutorial when you customize your Skype — because duh? We should get awards for trying! 😐
Now I couldn’t care less for these features, honestly. These shiny new things are lovely but I’m all about functionality and performance. So as long as Skype works the way it promises to work, then I’m happy.
And with 8.1.2 update bringing iPhone 5 back in, I couldn’t be happier.
How about you? Do you feel the same about Skype update 8.1.2? Did you even notice it? Or more to the point, do you even still care about Skype? Or have you moved on to other call/messaging apps long ago? Tell us in the comments! 😍
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