Skype update (on iPad) problems

[Jonetc15]

Until today, when I logged on to Skype on my iPad I changed the setting from off-line to online and then made the call. When I finished a conversation I switched back to off-line.

This last time when I opened Skype I got a message requiring me to give my Microsoft password. The updated content is completely different. I now find that I appear to have no way of setting Skype to off-line. This worries me, because I have two new unsolicited contacts – “Unknown bot” and “Skype Translator”. I will be really grateful for advice as to:

1 How to delete “Unknown bot” especially (and “Skype Translator”) on my iPad, and
2 How to set Skype to off-line on my iPad (if possible with the new version) when I am not using it.

Very many thanks in advance for any help

Jon

[Jonetc15]

P.S. I've found that tapping on “Skype Translator” gives me access to its contact profile, which gives me the options either to bloack or delete ths contact. However, “Unknown bot” doesn't appear to have a profile - just a blank page.

Jon

[todthedog]

New update is a complete pain. Changed settings on microphone all by itself took a good hour to sort what it had done and put it right. Yet another unnecessary bit of bloatware.

[formoverfunction]

I dislike Skype myself, I have ever since I discovered how easy it was to find someone's IP from their user name or using wireshark when talking with them.

I don't know if that's changed!

The idea that because it's open and running in the background and that someone might have my user name they could find my IP bothers me.

I now use Signal for mainly txt, and less often for voice.

If I'm forced to use Skype I would only through a good VPN service or in hidden mode.

Maybe the update is a chance to try a different service?

[Jonetc15]

New update is a complete pain. Changed settings on microphone all by itself took a good hour to sort what it had done and put it right. Yet another unnecessary bit of bloatware.

Many thanks. Do you think that an “Unknown bot” is a security risk?

Jon

[Jonetc15]

I dislike Skype myself, I have ever since I discovered how easy it was to find someone's IP from their user name or using wireshark when talking with them.

I don't know if that's changed!

The idea that because it's open and running in the background and that someone might have my user name they could find my IP bothers me.

I now use Signal for mainly txt, and less often for voice.

If I'm forced to use Skype I would only through a good VPN service or in hidden mode.

Maybe the update is a chance to try a different service?

Thank you very much for your reply. Please can you very kindly advise me (long ago retired and not at all IT skilled) whether/how I can do arrange to use Skype through a good VPN service or in hidden mode on my iPad.

TIA

Jon

[swill453]

2 How to set Skype to off-line on my iPad (if possible with the new version) when I am not using it.

I don't think you had an answer to this one. If you tap on your own icon at the top left, you get a popup with your own status and details.

The status is the oval button under your name, and will be Active, Do not disturb or Invisible. If you tap it and set to Invisible, I think that's the equivalent of what Offline used to be.

Scott.

[formoverfunction]

Hi Jon,

"VPN service or in hidden mode on my iPad"

I believe using the "invisible" setting on Skype gives you some protection from having your IP discovered.

I use ProtonVPN and OpenVPN on my iPhone. Proton don't have a native ios app, at the moment, so OpenVPN manages the connection.

When I'm using VPN the iPhone notifies me with a status update at the top of the screen.

Once the VPN is running internet traffic gets routed through it. None of that's required with Signal.

I'll include url's for yor information:

How to find someone's IP on Skype https://www.wikihow.com/Find-the-IP-Add ... Skype-User

ProtonVPN https://protonvpn.com/

Signal https://www.signal.org/

You'll see Signal is the original Open Whisper System that many other chat services are based upon, but unlike others it's funded by donation.

If you are feeling paranoid by this point: MAT (on Debian systems) is Metadata anonymisation toolkit or you can use GIMP on OSX/Windows to achieve the same effect. They can be used to "rip" all the location, date stamps etc from any pictures you share on line.

https://www.gimp.org/

I run a seperate VPN on a Raspberry Pi, you can get a limited free VPN service by creating a Proton Mail email account (again free) and for a total spend of £40 I have a private network running at home. Cheap, fiddly, but an interesting learning experience.

https://protonmail.com/

I hope that helps.

[Jonetc15]

2 How to set Skype to off-line on my iPad (if possible with the new version) when I am not using it.

I don't think you had an answer to this one. If you tap on your own icon at the top left, you get a popup with your own status and details.

The status is the oval button under your name, and will be Active, Do not disturb or Invisible. If you tap it and set to Invisible, I think that's the equivalent of what Offline used to be.

Scott.

Brilliant, Scott. Exactly what I wanted to achieve. I'm tremendously grateful - and I'm sure that quite a few folk following this thread will benefit from/follow your advice too.

Very many thanks

Jon

[Infrasonic]

2 How to set Skype to off-line on my iPad (if possible with the new version) when I am not using it.

I don't think you had an answer to this one. If you tap on your own icon at the top left, you get a popup with your own status and details.

The status is the oval button under your name, and will be Active, Do not disturb or Invisible. If you tap it and set to Invisible, I think that's the equivalent of what Offline used to be.

Scott.

Brilliant, Scott. Exactly what I wanted to achieve. I'm tremendously grateful - and I'm sure that quite a few folk following this thread will benefit from/follow your advice too.

Very many thanks

Jon

Just be aware that it may not keep you in invisible mode, I've noticed it switching me to 'available' without my intervention.
That's on a W10 desktop PC with the Skype app. and in Chrome and Edge browsers though (with webRTC) , I don't own any Apple kit so can't comment on if it does the same there.

[Jonetc15]

Hi Jon,

"VPN service or in hidden mode on my iPad"

I believe using the "invisible" setting on Skype gives you some protection from having your IP discovered.

I use ProtonVPN and OpenVPN on my iPhone. Proton don't have a native ios app, at the moment, so OpenVPN manages the connection.

When I'm using VPN the iPhone notifies me with a status update at the top of the screen.

Once the VPN is running internet traffic gets routed through it. None of that's required with Signal.

I'll include url's for yor information:

How to find someone's IP on Skype https://www.wikihow.com/Find-the-IP-Add ... Skype-User

ProtonVPN https://protonvpn.com/

Signal https://www.signal.org/

You'll see Signal is the original Open Whisper System that many other chat services are based upon, but unlike others it's funded by donation.

If you are feeling paranoid by this point: MAT (on Debian systems) is Metadata anonymisation toolkit or you can use GIMP on OSX/Windows to achieve the same effect. They can be used to "rip" all the location, date stamps etc from any pictures you share on line.

https://www.gimp.org/

I run a seperate VPN on a Raspberry Pi, you can get a limited free VPN service by creating a Proton Mail email account (again free) and for a total spend of £40 I have a private network running at home. Cheap, fiddly, but an interesting learning experience.

https://protonmail.com/

I hope that helps.

Very many thanks indeed, formoverfunction, for the considerable time and trouble that you've take to write at such length with so many links.

As for your suggestion that I might get to feel paranoid, no problem - that's my default mental setting when dealing with any question of internet security!

I mean it with gratitude when I say that with my limited IT competence I'm going to have to google just to learn what VPN is and does - then I'm sure that I'll be able to follow all the tremendously helpful links. As I have just said to Scott (above), I'm certain that others following this thread will be really interested in all that you have so very helpfully set out. I'll let you know, in due course, how I get on.

All the very best

Jon
P.S I hesitate to ask, but I wonder if you or anyone else have any idea what the "Unknown bot" is, suddenly appearing as a contact; you'll realise now that I really am paranoid!

[Infrasonic]

A quick easy way of achieving a bit more privacy is to swap out your DNS.
I've gone with Cloudflare, but there are other options...https://1.1.1.1/

[kyu66]

P.S I hesitate to ask, but I wonder if you or anyone else have any idea what the "Unknown bot" is, suddenly appearing as a contact; you'll realise now that I really am paranoid!

Seems you are not alone - see link.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/sky ... 8db283079b

Not sure there is an answer in there for your circumstances, I imagine the recent update has a bug which should be fixed sometime.

BTW a quick Google search on your issues should throw up whether or not it is a system-wide rather than a local problem. System issues are usually solved in future software releases; as well as introducing 'new' features/problems

HTH
kyu66

[Jonetc15]

...Just be aware that it may not keep you in invisible mode, I've noticed it switching me to 'available' without my intervention.
That's on a W10 desktop PC with the Skype app. and in Chrome and Edge browsers though (with webRTC) , I don't own any Apple kit so can't comment on if it does the same there.

Many thanks, Infrasonic. In fact I appear to have the opposite problem - I can't figure out how to exit from 'invisible' back to 'available', so at the moment I switch off and restart my iPad. Skype then shows my icon, in 'invisible' mode so I can then switch back to 'available'. I'm sure that there's a better way of switching without restarting my iPad.

ATB

Jon

[Jonetc15]

P.S. Sorry - I said 'available' when in fact the word is 'Active'

Jon

[formoverfunction]

A quick easy way of achieving a bit more privacy is to swap out your DNS.
I've gone with Cloudflare, but there are other options...https://1.1.1.1/

Thank for this, I'm going to have a look at it for when I'm not using VPN.

I've tried out the following on my computer and they seem to work well from the command line :

Set DNS server to Cloudflare: networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi 1.1.1.1

Checking the DNS server: networksetup -getdnsservers Wi-Fi

Flushing the DNS service: networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi empty

So thanks! I can't help thinking that going forward more people are going to take interest in the digital foot print they create.

I try to force https when ever I'm browsing, but Cloudflare seem to have developed an https DNS service. Looks beyond my skill set, but it's an interesting future idea.

You never know, one day it might even be safe to connect to the local coffee shops wifi.......and in the mean time it might confound Google a little bit more.

[Jonetc15]

P.S I hesitate to ask, but I wonder if you or anyone else have any idea what the "Unknown bot" is, suddenly appearing as a contact; you'll realise now that I really am paranoid!

Seems you are not alone - see link.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/sky ... 8db283079b

Not sure there is an answer in there for your circumstances, I imagine the recent update has a bug which should be fixed sometime.

BTW a quick Google search on your issues should throw up whether or not it is a system-wide rather than a local problem. System issues are usually solved in future software releases; as well as introducing 'new' features/problems

HTH
kyu66

Many thanks, kyu66, for the interesting link. Perhaps the most secure solution is to uninstall Skype and use FaceTime instead (as I only use Skype for family, all on Apple - I don't need it otherwise).

ATB

Jon

[Jonetc15]

A quick easy way of achieving a bit more privacy is to swap out your DNS.
I've gone with Cloudflare, but there are other options...https://1.1.1.1/

Many thanks for the follow-up, Infrasonic. Another wet towel required for my head...

ATB

Jon