The Microsoft-owned Skype announced Friday that Skype for Web, which puts the popular video chat service in a web browser, is now available in beta mode to users in the United States and United Kingdom.
“Now, anyone going to Skype.com (or web.skype.com) in the U.S. and U.K. can sign in and connect to Skype for Web to get to their conversations in an instant without downloading the Skype app,” according to a company blog post.
Skype says the new feature is especially helpful for those who sign-in on Skype from a mobile phone, but also want to access calls and instant messages easily. It could also be helpful for people using computers at an Internet cafe or hotel without Skype downloaded, the company says.
“Skype for Web is an important step for Skype as we move towards implementing the technology to make Real-Time Communications (RTC) on the web a reality,” the company continued. “But just as importantly, we’re doing it because the hundreds of millions of people that visit Skype.com every month told us they want to call and IM when they visit our website.”
The service is expected to be rolled out around the world in the next few weeks, according to Skype.
Earlier in June, users found a bug that could crash Skype – and it was only eight characters long.