Earlier this year Microsoft made the decision that Skype for Windows Phone 8 would no longer allow login using a Skype user name, forcing people to have either a Microsoft account or basically not use Skype.
So what is wrong with that right? Well some of us simply do not want to have a Microsoft account and want to sign-in to Skype the same way we have for nearly 10 years. Other platforms don’t have this restriction that Microsoft created, Only Windows Mobile.
Why don’t you just install an earlier version of Skype? Yes this would fix the problem however; there have been no leaks of the Windows Phone 8 version before the upgrade that are a decrypted skype.xap
There are many decrypted versions of Skype getting around the version that people are looking for is 2.11.0.246 or any version between 2.x and 2.15.x these version will allow login from a traditional Skype account, but this .xap is encrypted.
Here is a list of versions that I have found around on the web:
0.2.0.1 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7) 6.6MB
1.0.0.67 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7.5) 7MB
1.1.0.67 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7.5) 7MB
1.2.0.257 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7.5) 7MB
1.3.0.0 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7.5) 7MB
1.3.0.3 Decrypted (Skype Account) (WP7.5) 7MB
2.0.0.473 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 8MB
2.1.0.241 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 8MB
2.4.0.108 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 8MB
2.6.0.148 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 8MB
2.8.0.84 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 9MB
2.9.0.129 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 9MB
2.11.0.246 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 10MB
2.13.0.290 Encrypted (Skype Account) (WP 7.5,8) 10MB
2.15.0.154 Encrypted (Unknown) (WP 7.5,8) 10MB
2.16.0.266 Decrypted (Microsoft Account Only) (WP 7.5,8,8.1) 10MB
2.16.0.274 Decrypted (Microsoft Account Only) )(WP 7.5,8,8.1) 10MB
2.19.0.172 Encryped (Microsoft Account Only)(WP 7.5,8,8.1) 12MB
2.21.0.161 Encryped (Microsoft Account Only)(WP8.1,8.0) 14MB
Most of the versions are simply shared as Skype.xap or Skype 1.0.0.0.xap
I hope this helps someone who is researching.