The packager app can then package up the Skype Android app into a Chrome app. If you have an Android device, you can install Skype for Android and the ARChon Packager app. Skype has an Android app, and you can now install that Android app on Chrome OS. It doesn’t work perfectly just yet and requires some fiddling, but it’s an option. Ultimately, this is a compatibility layer designed to let you run any Android app directly on Chrome OS, giving Chromebooks access to all the Android apps that exist. Google is working on an Android runtime for Chrome. Click the “Sign in or join” link next to Skype if you haven’t already set up Skype on. To use this feature, head to, sign in, and click the messaging icon at the top-right corner of your inbox.

For now, the lack of Skype helps Microsoft slam Chromebooks with their “Scroogled” ads. In the future, Microsoft will hopefully switch to WebRTC for plug-in-free Skype calling on, and Skype will then be available on your Chromebook and every other device. On Windows and Mac, users can install a Skype plug-in to have video and voice calls from, as well. This hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves - ’s chat feature is basically just a web version of Skype. Just log in to your account and use the built-in chat feature in, which connects to Skype. You can connect to Skype and send text messages with your contacts from. Many people just use Skype for text chatting, especially after it absorbed the old Windows Live Messenger (aka MSN Messenger.) Skype is often considered a voice-and-video-calling application, but it’s more than that. RELATED: The Best Ways to Video Chat from Windows, Mac, iPhone, or Android You can head to in your browser, login, and start using instant messenger. They might open this up in the future, however. This is a beta, so the video and voice calling doesn’t work yet in some browsers, including Chromebooks. Microsoft now provides a version of Skype that works directly in a browser, and even works for Chromebooks. Use Skype for Web (Instant Messaging Only)

Best version of skype for chromebook