WhatsApp Messenger has pulled the plug on millions of iPhones and Android devices running older operating systems from February 1.
The Facebook-owned app announced it was necessary to block people running older versions of the Android and iOS operating systems in order to ensure security among its users.
“Because we no longer actively develop for these operating systems, some features might stop functioning at any time,’ said WhatsApp in a blog post.
“For the best experience, we recommend you use the latest version of iOS or Android available for your phone”.
The latest update means users on unsupported devices will no longer create new accounts on WhatsApp or even re-verify their accounts. Here’s a list of smartphones that will lose support for WhatsApp in 2020:
- Windows Phone. WhatsApp withdrew support for all Windows Phone devices in 2019. This came after tech giant Microsoft finally announced plans to kill off its phone software.
- iPhones running iOS 8 or older. That means anyone with an iPhone 4 or older.
- Android versions older than 2.3.7. Any Android smartphone running the Gingerbread version will lose access to WhatsApp. That includes anyone with a Huawei Ideos.
- Nokia Symbian S60. This is a software platform for smartphones that runs on top of the Symbian operating system. A lot of Nokia phones released at the start of the millennium fall under this category.
- BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10.
If you’re currently using a device with the above operating systems, WhatsApp recommends upgrading your phone to a more modern device with at least the following requirements:
- Android running OS 4.0+
- iPhone running iOS 8+
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging applications worldwide with more than 1.5 billion users across the world. WhatsApp users send 60 billion messages a day, outlining the huge demand for the service across a wide range of devices.
The recent update could prove troublesome for those who are hanging on to older devices for different reasons who may soon find themselves without access to one of their favorite applications.
WhatsApp spokesman gave a statement saying that “These platforms don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future”.
“Once you have one of these devices, simply install WhatsApp and verify your phone number on the new device. Keep in mind that WhatsApp can only be activated with one phone number on one device at a time,” as published on WhatsApp official website.
WhatsApp has evolved to becoming the default private messaging app for Kenyans because of its comparatively cheaper costs as compared to SMS as well as the video and audio call feature that further reduces the costs of communicating in loved ones.
In India, WhatsApp is so popular and potentially influential that in July 2018, it was directly associated with a spate of mob lynchings orchestrated by fake messages relating to child abduction and organ harvesting spread through the platform.
The rumors and fake messages were customized with locally-specific details and circulated with real videos to make them believable. The majority of the casualties were manual laborers, outsiders and the mentally challenged.
