Skype 4.1 Brings Photo Sharing, Performance Improvements to iOS

An new update to the Skype iOS app brings photo sharing to the online communications service, the company announced Tuesday. Skype 4.1 for iOS allows users to share photos from their existing iOS photo library or snap a live picture from their iDevice camera and easily share it with their Skype contacts.

Skype 4.1 iOS Photo Share

A major benefit of the service is that, as of now, there is no size limit on the photos that can be sent and received. Considering the steady improvements to iDevice cameras each year, the lack of a size limit on photos may help users share their large images at full resolution, without the need to compress or scale it further to satisfy attachment limits imposed by some email providers. Sending photos via Skype, a free service, is also a great alternative to relatively expensive MMS texting.

Sharing photos is easy: select the contact in Skype to whom you wish to send a photo, tap on the phone icon in the upper right of the screen, select “Send Photo” and then choose to select an existing photo on your device or take a new photo with the camera application.

Skype 4.1 iOS Photo Share

The photo’s recipient must have their account set up for instant messaging but, assuming they do, the photo will be uploaded and sent to them immediately if they are online or, if they are not online, held and delivered to them when they reconnect.

Other changes included in the Skype 4.1 update include improvements in performance and battery life while Skype is running in the background.

Skype for iPhone and iPad are available for free from the iOS App Store and are compatible with the iPhone 3G and newer, the iPod touch 2nd generation and newer, and all iPads.