Skype app for Android update brings battery savings, and more

According to Skype, the new Skype app for Android (version 4.7) will loosen its grip on the device's battery life.

"With Skype 4.7 for Android, we are introducing aggressive battery savings that will allow most of our users to leave Skype running without noticeably affecting battery life," states the Skype blog.

In order to let Skype users on Android achieve "amazing battery savings" on their device, the update turns off the group message notification as the feature drains a considerable amount of battery. This however, is a temporary process as the Skype team has promised that, "In the near future, you will be able to receive group chat messages instantly without additional battery impact."

Users can meanwhile manually activate the group notification feature by navigating through Settings > Notifications > and checking the "Sync group messages in the background" option.

Some of the other changes in the latest Skype app for Android includes a workaround method for an Android 4.4 KitKat bug, which "caused a runaway process when the camera was synced in the background," and audio and video calling fixes for tablets that do not have Bluetooth.

The latest Skype for Android v4.7, beyond the battery life fix, will now also list Windows Live Messenger contacts in its default view. It is available to download from Google Play Store.

Skype recently was updated for Windows 8.1 OS with its new v2.6 release that focuses on a better integration and synchronisation across varied devices, and fluent picking up of calls.