The service, offered for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone devices, allowed users to exchange video messages between individuals or within a group.

Qik, a Silicon Valley startup, launched its alpha version in December 2007 and went into public beta in July 2008.

[8][9] On February 22, 2016, Microsoft announced their plans to retire the Skype Qik app on March 24 citing low usage.

[13] In September 2008, a month after its beta release, Qik received an undisclosed amount of investments from Netscape veterans Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

[18] After 9 years of service, on February 23, 2016, Microsoft decided to shut down Qik, therefore users will no longer be able to send or receive any messages via the video chat application.