No More WhatsApp for These Smartphones. Is Yours on the List?

Upgrade your phone now.

Now is the best time to upgrade your phone. (Photo: The Quint)

Popular messaging app WhatsApp will no longer run on a list of smartphones. As announced by the company earlier, the app was discontinued on several older operating systems this year.

Phones That Will No Longer Support WhatsApp

In a blog, WhatsApp listed several mobile platforms that will not be able to support the messaging app. These include:

• Android: Any phone with Android 2.1 (Eclair) or Android 2.2 (Froyo)
• iOS: iPhones running on iOS 6
• Windows Phone: Version 7 will no longer support WhatsApp

Data from Android Developer suggests that around 0.1 percent of Android users still run Android 2.2 Froyo.

The news is bound to disappoint Android 2.2 Froyo users. (Photo Courtesy: Android Developer)

WhatsApp also said that any iPhone 4, 4S, or 5 that has not been updated to the newest version of the operating system, the iOS 10, will not be able to support the instant messaging app.

Yes, this means that that old iPhone 3GS lying in your drawer is now completely useless.

Around 8 percent of global iPhone users run on iOS versions 6,7 or 8. (Photo Courtesy: Apple Developer)

But all isn’t lost just yet. WhatsApp will continue to work on BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 until 30 June 2017.

The company stressed that this is a “tough decision” but the “right one” that will provide its users with improved ways to keep in touch.

While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they do not offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future. 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, in an official blogpost

At a time when WhatsApp is delivering video calling, GIF support and a host of other features, the popular app’s latest move is bound to encourage users to either buy new phones, or to just update their damn software already.