The encrypted messenger WhatsApp has announced the end of support for several older smartphones (iPhones and Android) starting 1 November 2021. It is a normal practice by WhatsApp every year to drop support for smartphones running older versions of Android and iOS in order to protect users and maintain security.
Starting November 1, 2021, WhatsApp is going to end support for smartphones running Android 4.0.4 or earlier, as well as Apple iPhones running iOS 9 or earlier. “WhatsApp will no longer support Android phones running OS 4.0.4 and older on November 1, 2021.” says the company.
Meanwhile, the company has also updated the list of supported iPhones starting, “WhatsApp for iPhone requires iOS 10 or newer.” as the Facebook-owned company drops support for iPhones running iOS 9 and older versions of the operating system from 1 November 2021.
However, this does not mean that WhatsApp will stop working immediately on all these phones. The end of support means that it will continue to work with some features for a while until the old versions require a mandatory update at which point the app will no longer function.
People who want to keep using WhatsApp will need to update their operating system to the newer supported versions or upgrade their devices entirely if a newer version of the operating system for the smartphone is not available. There are several devices which have reached the end of support from their manufacturers, which means that these smartphones will no longer get any operating system updates.
Read more: How to hide WhatsApp status from selected contacts.
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