Skype's new privacy policy won't allow the platform to retain credential data anymore

Just days after updating Skype to support Channels 2.0, Microsoft released another build of the platform, Skype Insider build 8.117, and, although small, it brings with it two of the most important enhancements the video-call platform has gotten recently.

According to the official changelog, which can be read here, Skype’s new privacy policy states that the platform will no longer retain credential data anymore, giving the power back to users. The platform had been plagued with a bug that would retain credential information even though users stated in the preferences that they would prefer not to.

The latest build changed that and fixed the issue effectively, stating:

Login Credentials Handling: Your login credentials are now yours to control. We’ve fixed the issue where Skype was retaining information despite preferences. Upon account sign-out, your ‘automatic login’ setting respects your choices across all Skype versions.

Skype

The Redmond-based tech giant also updated the platform to not show blank screens during audio calls on Windows devices. It will show a variety of visual elements, instead.

Windows Browser Fix: No more blank screens during audio calls. We’ve brought back your visual elements!

Skype

The new privacy policy on Skype is welcomed, but it does speak volumes about the way Microsoft handles these issues. Despite users explicitly disabling settings that would allow Skype to retain credentials, the platform did anyway because of a bug.

It took a patch for Microsoft to address the issue, even though it must have been there for a while now.

Skype will get these enhancements gradually, so you might need to wait a few days until the platform makes the necessary changes. However, you can check out if it retains your credentials by logging out and logging back in.

The automatic login should now respect your preferred settings.

What do you think about these new enhancements?