Windows Phone Users Won’t Be Able to Use WhatsApp From This Date
The popular messaging app will stop working on Windows Phone, which will be scrapped by Microsoft soon.
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WhatsApp would stop support for Windows Phone on 31 December, 2019, which is aligned with Microsoft's decision to end support for their mobile operating system, the Facebook-owned platform said on Tuesday.
After Microsoft pulls support in December, device backups for settings and some apps will continue for three months until 10 March, 2020.
"Following Microsoft's recent decision to end support for Windows Mobile devices in December, WhatsApp will release its final update for Windows phones in June.
"WhatsApp will continue working on Windows phones through the end of the year," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
In an updated FAQ Page, WhatsApp said that you can no longer create new accounts, nor re-verify existing accounts for the following operating systems: Android versions 2.3.7 and older until 1 February, 2020, iOS 7 and older until 1 February, 2020 and Windows Phone operating systems after 31 December, 2019.
However, you'll be able to continue using WhatsApp on these platforms.
Windows Phone was pitted to be the Android and iOS alternative a few years back, when Microsoft along with Nokia launched a slew of Lumia phones running on the Windows mobile platform.
But gradually, developers shifted their focus to Android and iOS that were offering better avenues to make money with more users on board the respective platforms. Since then, license for Nokia has gone to HMD Global (formed by ex-Nokia people) which has made a slew of Nokia phones running on Android.
Microsoft sensibly decided to look beyond mobile, working on Windows 10 for PCs and made its own hardware with the Surface Pro and Surface Book series.
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