WhatsApp, the leading chat app/ messenger in the world is about to stop working on a range of old smartphones from the 1st of January 2018. This is because these range of mobile devices don’t offer the kind of capabilities needed to expand and accommodate latest technologies that would be the major features in the future of upgrades in WhatsApp.
This means owners of these once famous/old mobile phones will have to buy newer gadgets if they want to continue using WhatsApp.
Last year, WhatsApp dropped its support for Nokia Symbian S60 phones. It will do the same for Nokia S40 handsets on December 31 2018 and then devices running Android 2.3.7 and older after 1 February, 2020.
On New Year’s Day, WhatsApp will ‘remove support’ for a number of devices – which updated versions of the software can no longer be installed on them.
From January 1, 2018, anyone still using phones which run BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10 or Windows Phone 8.0 will no longer be able to update their WhatsApp software.
In a blog post, WhatsApp wrote: “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.”