What Happened to Your Skype Credit After the Shutdown

Skype went dark on 5 May 2025. A lot of people still had money sitting in it, and more than a year later the most common question about Skype is still some version of "where did my balance go, and can I have it back?"

The answer depends entirely on one thing, and it's the thing nearly every article about this gets muddled. It's not how much you had. It's not how long ago you bought it. It's whether the money was a subscription or Skype Credit.

One of those you can get refunded. The other you generally can't.

The short answer

Had a subscription that ran past 1 May 2026? Microsoft cancelled it and turned it into Skype Credit. You can have the money back instead, but only if you ask, because Microsoft's guidance is explicit that after 1 May 2026 remaining subscriptions which were cancelled are eligible for a refund and equally clear that nothing happens automatically.

Just leftover Skype Credit? That's the prepaid balance you topped up to make calls, and there's no refund for it. Skype's standard policy only refunds credit that's unused and requested within 14 days of purchase, which almost nobody's old balance qualifies for. You can still spend it though.

That single distinction decides whether you get money back or not, and most people don't know which one they had.

Working out which one you had

Worth being precise, because people use the two words interchangeably in conversation even though they were completely different products with completely different rules attached, and the whole question of whether you see your money again turns on which one you're holding.

A subscription was a recurring monthly or annual plan that bought you a bundle of minutes to a country or region. It renewed on its own until you stopped it. If Skype was charging your card on a schedule, that was a subscription.

Skype Credit was prepaid money. You put ten or twenty-five dollars in, and calls drew it down at a per-minute rate until it ran out. Nothing recurring. You topped it up when it got low.

Plenty of people had both. In that case the subscription part may be refundable while the credit part isn't, so it's worth checking your billing history for a recurring charge before you assume the answer is no.

If you had a subscription: how to claim

Skype's subscription service ended on 1 May 2026. Anything still running past that date was cancelled and quietly turned into Skype Credit.

You don't have to accept the credit. Microsoft's retirement guidance states that after 1 May 2026, if you have remaining subscriptions that were cancelled, you're eligible for a refund.

The route is customer support. There's no button for it:

1. Contact Skype customer support through Microsoft's support site.
2. Give them your account details and say which subscription was affected.
3. Tell them plainly that you want a refund for the cancelled subscription rather than the converted Skype Credit. This matters, because the default outcome is that you keep the credit.
4. Refunds go back to whatever payment method you originally paid with.

One thing we could not confirm, and won't guess at: Microsoft hasn't published a closing date for these refund requests. The guidance says you're eligible after 1 May 2026 and stops there. Since the normal Skype refund policy elsewhere refuses anything over 90 days old, there's a reasonable chance this window won't stay open forever. If you think you're owed one, ask now.

If you have leftover credit: spend it

Here's the part that made people angry, and it's worth stating without spin. Skype Credit is refundable only when it's unused and the request comes within 14 days of purchase, which means that anyone who topped up in the ordinary way, spent some of it, and then watched the service they'd bought it for get switched off is holding a balance that falls outside the policy through no fault of their own. Microsoft has generally not refunded those. Plenty of people found that out the hard way.

What you can still do is use it. The Skype Dial Pad survived the shutdown and lives in two places:

• Teams Free, signed in with your old Skype account
• The Skype web portal

From either, your remaining balance still calls landlines and mobiles at the usual per-minute rates. Automatic top-up is gone, so the balance only goes down from here.

Small balance? Spend it on calls you'd make anyway, then treat the account as closed.

The cases where the answer is different

Several situations don't follow either rule above:

• You bought through Apple or Google. If the purchase went through iTunes or Google Play, Microsoft can't refund it. Those are third-party purchases and you have to ask the store you bought from.
• Vouchers and prepaid cards. Not refundable, full stop.
• Skype Numbers. Counted as used the moment they're bought, so there's nothing to refund.
• Credit given to you by a Skype Manager admin, typically at work. Not refundable to you.
• A genuine billing error. Different route entirely, and the limit is 90 days from the charge.

While you're in there

If you haven't touched the account since the shutdown, your Skype chat history and contacts are already gone. Microsoft deleted data for users who took no action in January 2026. Accounts that migrated to Teams carried their contacts and history across.

Nothing to be done now. Worth knowing before you go hunting for old conversations.

Once the money's out

Whichever way it goes, you end up in the same place: needing somewhere else to call actual phone numbers from.

Teams Free will keep working for calls while your credit lasts, and if you're already in Teams for work, that's the path of least resistance. Once the balance is gone, though, you're choosing a new service, and the thing to check is whether it reaches ordinary landlines and mobiles at all, or only other people running the same app. Skype could do the first. Most free apps never could, which is why people are still hunting for a replacement more than a year on.

CallTuv does that part from a browser, with no app to install and no subscription, and we wrote a fuller comparison of what to use instead of Skype if you want the options side by side. Whatever you land on, get your money out of Skype first.

FAQ

Can I get my Skype Credit refunded?
Generally no. Skype Credit is refundable only if it's unused and you request it within 14 days of purchase, so older balances don't qualify. You can still spend it through the Skype Dial Pad in Teams Free or the Skype web portal.

Can I get a refund for a Skype subscription?
Yes, if it was cancelled as part of the retirement. Microsoft's guidance says that after 1 May 2026, remaining subscriptions that were cancelled are eligible for a refund. You need to contact Skype customer support and ask for the refund rather than the converted credit.

What happened to subscriptions that ran past 1 May 2026?
They were cancelled and automatically converted into Skype Credit. If you'd rather have the money, you can ask for a refund instead.

Where is my Skype Credit now?
Still on your account. Sign in to Teams Free with your Skype account, or use the Skype web portal, and the Dial Pad will draw on the same balance. Automatic top-up is no longer available.

I bought Skype Credit through the App Store. Who refunds that?
Apple, not Microsoft. Purchases made through iTunes or Google Play have to be taken up with that store directly.

Is there a deadline to claim the subscription refund?
Microsoft hasn't published one. The guidance states eligibility after 1 May 2026 without naming an end date. Given that the standard policy refuses charges over 90 days old, it's worth asking soon.

Can I still make calls with Skype?
Yes, while you have credit. The Dial Pad still calls landlines and mobiles from Teams Free and the Skype web portal. What's gone is Skype itself as a standalone app, plus subscriptions and automatic top-up.

Are my old Skype messages recoverable?
Not if you did nothing. Data for accounts that took no action was deleted in January 2026. Accounts that moved to Teams kept their contacts and chat history.

The bottom line

Check which kind of money you had. If any part of it was a subscription that got cancelled when the service ended, contact Skype support and ask for the refund rather than the credit, because keeping the credit is what happens by default if you say nothing.

Plain prepaid credit isn't coming back as cash. Spend it through the Dial Pad instead of leaving it to rot on a dead account.

Either way, don't leave it. It's your money, and Microsoft is under no obligation to remind you it's there.