From blossoming long-distance love to helping families stay connected, for years Skype held a unique place in people's hearts.
In the days before Zoom, WhatsApp and Teams, the video call service was once one of the world's most popular websites.
It allowed people to make computer-to-computer calls free, and then became the way users could make low cost calls to landlines and mobiles to people in other parts of the world.
In recent years though, Skype has been diminishing as its owner Microsoft focussed on Teams. Its services will close for good on 5 May, with the Skype for Business feature the only part to remain.
Here are just some of the many people whose lives were touched by Skype since it launched in 2003.
The long-distance couple who fell in love
Weng and Owen Williams have a lot to thank Skype for – it is one of the main reasons they are married.
In 2012, Weng left Macau, China to start a six-month internship at a National Trust site in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Feeling a bit homesick, she would speak to friends and family on Skype. She then met Owen, who was also working for the National Trust.
At first they were friends, but after Weng returned to Macau, romance blossomed over months of Skype chats and visits to see one another.
"Skype was a very important part of our relationship," she said.
When they decided to embark on a long-distance relationship, Skype was the glue that held it together.
They video called every day – including when Weng sent Owen a birthday cake and he cut it in front of her during their chat.
"That was quite sweet," she said. "Skype just kept us going."
The pair ultimately got engaged, and Weng moved back to Wales in 2015.
Now, they are happily married.
Dealing with the death of a loved one
Like many over the years, Erica from New Zealand used Skype to communicate with a loved one while they were in another part of the world.
In her case, it was her husband when one of them was on a work trip.
Following his death in 2017, Skype took on another role for Erica, who spoke to the BBC anonymously.
"I was clearing out his files to decommission his work computer," she told BBC News.
"I had the opportunity to review these messages we had exchanged and realised how they inadvertently documented a period of distress and heartache in our relationship."
What Erica did next tried to bring some closure to this difficult period in her life.
"I sent a posthumous message to his Skype address to which, I – or he – replied from his computer," she said.
Erica said she then began a brief conversation back and forth "over a period of weeks" – where she would send a message to his Skype address, then reply to herself from his account.
"In this exchange, we responded to each other's messages and questions with all the apologies and regret that we needed to hear from each other," she said.
"It helped me to move on. I believed it."
'I speak to my 99-year-old mum every day on Skype'
Since 2003, Susan Bertotti has lived in Chile. Skype has been her way of keeping in touch with her mum Vera, who lives in in Milton Keynes.
For the past 15 years, they have spoken to each other every day they are apart on Skype.
