Facebook-owned WhatsApp has disclosed that the company would restrict its services from running on operating systems lower than IOS 7, Andriod version 2.3.7 and all windows phones.
According to vanguard, WhatsApp, through its support page in a blog post, disclosed that millions of phones around the world would be affected, starting from December 31, 2019, as a variety of older handsets would lose access to the messaging app.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp had indicated that the iOS and Android blocks would not take effect until February 1, 2020. Other dates WhatsApp stopped working on older phone systems on June 30, 2017; Nokia Symbian, S60 December 31, 2017; BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry, 10 December 31, 2018.
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What the block means: WhatsApp said that anyone using these older phones could no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts because WhatsApp would no longer actively develop for these operating systems as some features might stop functioning at any time.
However, WhatsApp regularly stops support for older devices, compelling users to keep up to date if they want to continue using the app.
“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, while these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.
“This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone to continue using WhatsApp.”
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WhatsApp is also focused on adding new features for current systems. It is reportedly currently working on a dark mode which should help reduce its battery usage a bit, but this is not available for general release.
The proposed new feature would allow users choose between the light and dark side of WhatsApp while checking a box marked ‘battery saver’, which automatically switches WhatsApp to dark mode when battery power is running low.
