Skype for Web gets HD video calls and much more

If you use the web version of Skype, then you’ll doubtless be interested to learn that Microsoft has brought all the latest features to the web-based spin of its messaging service – or at least to the preview version.

As spotted by MS Power User, a big update to the Skype for Web preview (which you can access here – providing you’re running Chrome or Microsoft’s Edge browser) brings with it all the latest features from the desktop and mobile versions.

That means web users can now enjoy HD video calling (individual or group video calls), and they can record calls, as well.

A new Notifications Panel collects all your reactions to messages, @mentions in group chats, and more, in one central hub so you can see what’s happened at a glance.

Search me…

There’s also a search function to let you easily find a particular message in a conversation, and a Chat Media Gallery keeps track of all the media, links and files you’ve been sent, again for quick and convenient access.

That’s a lot of smart added functionality aimed at web users, for sure.

As we saw recently, another feature currently in testing is the ability for Windows 10 users to send money via Skype (using their PayPal account), with no fees charged by Microsoft (although PayPal may still exact a transaction fee when transferring money across borders, for example).

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).