WhatsApp has become extremely popular in the past few years as an instant messaging/chat App. However, in a matter of weeks now, Whatsapp is set to stop working on millions of devices worldwide. This comes as WhatsApp is withdrawing support for some older versions of the smartphone Operating system.
You will remember that Nokia Symbian S60 lost access after June 30, 2017, BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 after December 31, 2017, and Nokia S40 after December 31, 2018. It’s now time for some Android and iOS versions to phase out.
WhatsApp has subsequently released names of these OS and the date they will be blocked in a statement released on its FAQ page for Android, and iOS. WhatsApp has also confirmed on its support page that anyone with a Windows Phone regardless of the version, will lose access from December 31, 2019. For iPhone and Android, the block will come into force from February 1, 2020.
Affected Phones and Dates
- All Windows Phone operating systems after December 31, 2019
- Android versions 2.3.7 and older after February 1, 2020
- iPhone iOS 7 and older after February 1, 2020
On iOS 8, you can no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts.
If you love WhatsApp and use any of the phones mentioned above, you’ll need to get another device with a more recent OS version.
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Why WhatsApp is to stop working on the phones
Justifying the decision to stop supporting older hardware, WhatsApp said in a blog post: “As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.
“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future. This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.
“If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone to continue using WhatsApp.”
WhatsApp said it will continue to provide support for devices running Android 4.0.3 onwards and iPhones running iOS 9 and onwards.
Some select phones running Linux-operated KaiOS 2.5.1 and older, including JioPhone and JioPhone 2, are also still supported.
