Skype on iphone

Not too tech savvy so bear with me....
I have an iphone and a Skype account. The Skype app is on the iphone. Could I receive Skype communication if the iphone is "resting" (i.e. idle - black screen)? Someone tried to contact me via Skype but it seems that unless I am actually tapped on Skype on the iphone - I do not receive communication. Is it possible for the iphone to be idle and receive Skype communication? Thank you.

Hello,
Short answer is yes you can. Which iPhone do you have, and do you know what version of iOS you have installed?
With later versions of the OS you can have Skype active in the background and therefore receive calls when the phone is idle.
There are a few things you need to do to set it up, when I get to work today I'll find a link and send it through to you...

OK well so long as you have iOS 4.0 or newer, you should just be able to open skype, close it and it will keep running in the background, which will mean that even when you aren't using it, your phone will still ring/sound an alert when someone skype calls you (or messages you). You would just want to check in the settings (open the settings icon, then scroll down til you find skype) and check in there that you have notifications turned ON.

I personally would then just click on the skype icon maybe once a week just to make sure I was still signed in.

It looks like there is a bit of a bug if you have the very latest update for skype as well as iOS 5.0.1. This link gives a suggested fix if this is the case, just work through the steps. http://community.skype.com/t5/iPhone/IOS-5-amp-Skype-Does-not-ring-in-background-any-longer/td-p/227070

I hope that makes sense let me know if it doesn't.

I have people call my phone on Skype all the time from all over the world, sometimes they forget the time difference ;) I use IOS 5.0

Thank you for the advice - very helpful.