- Is your phone set to be abandoned?
- WhatsApp will stop working on millions of people’s phones on Saturday.
WhatsApp has updated its operating system support page, confirming that users of iOS 8 or older will no longer be able to use WhatsApp as of February 1, 2020. The move will also affect older versions of Android (2.3.7) from the same date.
According to the support page, on all the versions and operating systems mentioned, users are already no longer able to create new accounts, nor re-verify their existing ones.
So, which phones won’t work? The last iPhones released running iOS 7 were the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C back in 2013. It was superseded by iOS 8 in 2014 so if you bought an iPhone (or iPad) after that date you’re going to be fine.
Similarly, Android 2.3.7 was known as ‘Gingerbread’ and was launched way back in 2010. By February of 2011 it had been supplanted by Android 3.0, also known as Honeycomb.
Chances are, unless you’re still using a Google Nexus S or a Samsung Galaxy S, you’ll probably be fine.
Windows Mobile is even older – it was originally rolled out in 2003 and ran until 2010 on devices like the Motorola MPx200. When it became clear that iOS and Android were more superior, Microsoft re-engineered its mobile operating system into the tile-based Windows Phone OS – which didn’t fare much better.
WhatsApp says that anyone using these older phones can no longer create new accounts or verify existing accounts. ‘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.
When does WhatsApp stop working on old phones?
WhatsApp regularly stops support for older devices, forcing users to keep up to date if they want to continue using the app. Here are all the dates that WhatsApp stopped working on older phone systems.
June 30, 2017 – Nokia Symbian S60 December 31, 2017 – BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 December 31, 2018 – Nokia S40 December 31, 2019 – Windows Mobile February 1, 2020 – iOS 7 and Android 2.3.7
‘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,’ WhatsApp said to justify why it routinely strips support for older operating systems. ‘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.’
