WhatsApp will stop working on millions of smartphones from New Year’s Eve as the messaging app phases out older devices. Users of iPhones running software older than iOS 9 and Android devices running Android 4.0.3, although the phones can be updated with more recent software to keep WhatsApp running in some cases.
The move effectively means that the iPhone 4 and older iPhones will no longer be able to run WhatsApp, but devices such as the iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 5C, 6 and 6S can all be updated with iOS 9. On the Android side, devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S2, released in 2011, will no longer be compatible with WhatsApp. If you’re unable to update your phone and don’t want to lose your chat history, you can back it up before December 31 by opening the chat you want to save, tapping ‘Group Info’ and then ‘Export Chat’ before downloading it.
WhatsApp withdrew support for devices with iOS 7 and Android 2.3.7 in February. Now it is recommending to upgrade the affected mobile devices to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone to continue using WhatsApp.
‘Because we no longer actively develop for these operating systems, some features might stop functioning at any time,’ the company said in a blog post announcing the cut-off dates at the time.
WhatsApp said they want to focus their efforts on mobile platforms majority of people use for the next seven years.
‘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.’