Skype is now capable of making emergency calls in the United States.

Users in the United States may now make emergency calls using Skype, according to an upgrade from Microsoft. The release notes for Skype 8.80, which was published on February 17 for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and the web, contained this new functionality, according to the XDA Developers community.

Previously, Skype informed users who sought to contact emergency services that the service could not be utilized for that purpose. There is now another another means for people in the United States to dial 911 in an emergency.

According to a Microsoft support article, when a user calls 911, Skype can immediately disclose the user’s current position with the dispatcher. This information is collected “for the purpose of routing your call and sending location information to your local emergency operator.” (This is presuming that the app has been granted permission to access the user’s location data.)

According to Microsoft, this location sharing may be enabled by following the procedures outlined below:

1. In Skype, select your profile picture.
2. Select Settings, then select Privacy.
3. Turn 911 emergency location sharing on. You will need to acknowledge the Notices & Disclosures and the Special 911 Warning of Limitations & Unavailability to complete the process. You can disable 911 emergency location sharing at any time, but this means your address will not be shared with 911 in case of an emergency.

There are certain limits to this method. The position of your device will not be automatically shared with emergency services if you are using it on a device that does not have an API for location sharing or if you are in an area where location sharing is not accessible, according to Microsoft.

A number of other changes are included, including support for custom reactions on mobile devices, the ability to zoom in on the share screen, and an increase in the maximum length of voice messages from two to five minutes. .