Do you have a smartphone running on older versions of the Android operating system or iOS? If you do, you may not be able to use WhatsApp on your smartphone in 2020. Reason? The company is ending support for older Android and iOS builds.
The Facebook-owned instant messaging app via an update on the FAQ section of its blog site has announced that starting February 2020, it will end support for smartphonesrunning on Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread and iOS 8. This means that starting February 1, 2020, WhatsApp will not allow users with smartphones running on Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread or iOS 8 to create new accounts. It will also cease to verify existing WhatsApp accounts for the aforementioned operating systems.
What’s more? If you are using a Windows phone, the company will stop providing all support for its messaging app starting December 31, 2019.
The company has advised all its users to upgrade to Android version 4.0.3 or iOS 9 to continue using its services. The catch, however, is that it would continue to support smartphones running on KaiOS 2.5.1, which includes JioPhone and JioPhone 2.
The logical question to ask here is that why is WhatsApp ending support for these versions? The answer is really simple. These operating systems are over five years old (Android 2.3.7 is eight years old while iOS 8 is five years old). They are not as secure as the latest versions. Also, these older OSes lack the capability to support the latest functions that are being offered by the company. And so, WhatsApp is pulling the plug and ending support for these operating systems. So, if you have a smartphone running on either of these operating systems, we recommend that you upgrade the software on your smartphone now.
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