From January 1, 2021, the popular messaging platform WhatsApp will stop working on a number of older iPhones and Android smartphones.
Some users of older devices will still be able to access WhatsApp by updating to the latest software. However, for some devices, WhatsApp will become permanently inaccessible from next year.
From January 1, 2021, WhatsApp is dropping support for any iPhone running on software older than iOS9. Users with these phones won’t be able to use WhatsApp.
The announcement by WhatsApp means that the iPhone 4 and earlier models will not be able to access the messaging app from the beginning of next year. However, if one has iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 5C, 6, and 6S, they will have to update their phone to iOS 9 or later to continue using WhatsApp.
Further, WhatsApp will no longer work on Android devices running on devices running Android 4.0.3 or older versions of the operating system. If users have such phones that are no longer compatible with WhatsApp then they must back up their chats before January 1, 2021, if they want to retain them.
They can back up their chats by going to ‘Chat backup’ option under Chats section in Settings. Aside from backing up their chats, users of old devices should also start looking for smartphones that are compatible with WhatsApp if they want to use the messaging app in the future.
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