We are excited to announce the start of the Skype for Business Mac Public Preview. Commercial customers can request an invite to test the Mac client at www.SkypePreview.com. We’ll start by issuing invites to IT administrators to download the client and gradually expand the preview to everyone in the coming weeks.

The Skype for Business app brings Skype for Business presence, instant messaging (IM), and voice and video calling to your mobile device. Important: To use Skype for Business your mobile device, you need a Skype for Business or Lync account—typically the same user name and password you use when signing in at work or school.

The preview will release in three cumulative stages leading to public availability, planned for the third quarter of 2016. Today’s initial release lets you see and join your meetings. Let’s take a look at the functionality rolling out today and what’s coming in the future.

Preview phase one—Once you sign in, you’ll see your meetings for today and tomorrow, based on your Outlook calendar, displayed in the Skype for Business client.

Excel for mac technical symbol. View your meetings schedule.

Join any meeting with just one click and enjoy full screen video, content viewing, in-meeting chat and the ability to invite others to the meeting.

View your video meeting in full screen.

Preview phase two—We’ll be adding instant messaging, presence and contacts in the next preview release coming in early summer. You can continue to use Lync for Mac 2011 side-by-side with Skype for Mac Preview, giving you continued access to messaging and voice features.

Previewphase three—We will add telephony and related features later in the summer.

What to expect at the Skype for Business Preview site

To get started, IT administrators can sign up their organization by visiting the Skype for Business Preview site. Each day, we will issue invitations to IT administrators, with the goal of extending invitations to everyone in the coming weeks. Once an IT administrator downloads the preview client, they can manage its distribution to end users within their organization.

To learn more and see the new experiences in action, watch this demonstration of the Skype for Business Mac Public Preview.

Tell us what you think!

Your feedback will help ensure we deliver the best client experience in the final product. You can submit your feedback directly in the client by clicking Report an Issue or via Skype for Business Mac Preview feedback.

Visit www.SkypePreview.com to sign up or to check your status.

—Kaushal Mehta