WHATSAPP users have recently received a warning that the chat app could stop working on their phone in 2021. However, it doesn’t mean it’s the end; there's one thing Android and iOS users need to know about this alert.
Although, this is something that has happened before as Whatsapp has tried to balance bringing exciting new features to the vast majority of its users with supporting older platforms, like BlackBerry, to help a minority continue to use the service to keep in touch with friends and family. In the past few months, there have been reports from several publications claiming that WhatsApp – the most popular chat app on the planet, with more than two billion users – will drop support for millions of devices from the beginning of 2021.
According to these troubling new reports, come January 1, 2021, WhatsApp will only support smartphones running – at the very least – iOS 9 on iPhone and Android 4.0.3 or newer for Android devices, like the Google Pixel, OnePlus, Samsung Galaxy series, and more. Devices set to be impacted by such a change to the list of supported devices include the Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, which are too old to be upgraded to iOS 9 or later.
Express.co.uk previously reported back in October 2019 that WhatsApp's support page had been updated to warn users of these forthcoming changes. The WhatsApp support page for iOS had previously stated: "WhatsApp for iPhone requires iOS 9 or later. On iOS 8, you can no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts. If WhatsApp is currently active on your iOS 8 device, you'll be able to use it until February 1, 2020.
"For the best experience, we recommend you use the latest version of iOS available for your phone."
So, while WhatsApp does require iOS 9 or Android 4.0.3 – this change isn't on the horizon, it has already happened. Speaking about these changes before they were rolled out to billions of users worldwide, WhatsApp said support was being dropped for a number of devices to help expand the app's feature set in the future.