A new bug appears to crash Skype when a short string of text is sent as a message across the service — and the effects are so bad that it requires a reinstall to get things working hitch-free again.


Reports on Skype forums and VentureBeat reveal that a message containing the simple string of characters “http://:” will crash Skype whether it’s running on Windows, Android or iOS. Apparently the OS X app is unscathed, as is the touch-specific version for Windows 8.1. On forums, a Skype spokesperson has written that its teams are “aware of the problem and... working to provide an resolution.”

Sadly, there’s no simple solution to the problem. Deleting your chat history won’t work, because Skype will download it afresh every time you start the app. Instead, Verge reports, the current best suggestion aired in forums to overcome the issue is to have the person who sent you the message delete it and to install an older, bug-free version of Skype.


It’s not been a good week for bugs in messaging apps. Last week, it came to light that a simple text message could crash Messages on iOS. So far, Apple has only release a temporary fix for that issue; let’s hope engineers can fix Skype a little faster. [Verge, VentureBeat, Skype]



mage by jorge.correa under Creative Commons license