We use Skype through our working day, to keep in touch with the various people who write, develop and produce content for us. It’s really easy to see when someone is online, drop them a quick message when they aren’t around and they’ll pick it up when they are back.

But, Microsoft is aware that Skype is losing its popularity, particularly with the younger generation who have moved across to WhatsApp. With that in mind, recent Skype improvements are aimed at the younger consumer, with a new glossy design which seems to mimic Snapchat. Not ideal if you use Skype for business.

Send money via Skype

The latest Skype innovation is a partnership with PayPal which will enable you to send money to other Skype users, as long as they have a PayPal account. Say you’re a group organiser and everyone is on Skype – it could be a quick and easy way of reminding people to pay you for an event you have organised. Apart examples like this, anyone else have any ideas of why you’d want to send people money via Skype?

You can send money to one of the 22 supported countries. Better still, you can send money in the recipient’s local currency. If you’re in Germany and you need to send cash to a friend in Canada, you can choose for them to receive the right amount in Canadian Dollars. Be aware though, the currency conversion will be handled through PayPal’s own rates.

The Send Money feature is fee-free if you have funds in your PayPal account, but if you want to send cash from your credit card, via PayPal, you’ll be charged a rather hefty 3.4% usage fee plus a flat rate of $0.30 per transaction.

The updated Skype with Send Money feature will be available for both the iOS and Android apps, expected to be updated today.