WhatsApp is the world's most popular messaging platform, so popular that it clocked 5 billion downloads on the Android platform alone. But come next week, a number of Android and iOS smartphones won't be supported by the largest cross-platform IM app.
WhatsApp updated its FAQ section to notify several of its users that the app won't be able to run on some phones. If you're using an old Android smartphone or an iPhone, it is possible that WhatsApp won't continue to work as usual.
According to the FAQ section, smartphones running on Android v2.3.7 and lower or iOS 8 and lower will no longer be compatible with WhatsApp February 1, 2020, onwards. Users of these outdated versions of Android and iOS smartphones won't be able to create new accounts or re-verify existing accounts.
WhatsApp users can update their smartphones with the latest operating system to continue using the app. WhatsApp recommends using smartphones with Android 4.0.3 or later and iOS 9+ versions. If the smartphone is ineligible for an update, the next best option is to upgrade the phone itself.
How to save your chats?
If you've no plans to continue using WhatsApp, but would wish to preserve your chats here's what you need to do. Users can take a backup of their chats in a few simple steps.
- Open WhatsApp
- Open the chat you wish to export
- Choose the "export chat" option from the menu
- Select the option to export chat with or without media and export your conversations to your email address
Upcoming WhatsApp features
One of the main reasons for WhatsApp to end support on older versions of Android and iOS is that some features might stop functioning. But if you've been tracking development about WhatsApp, there are a lot of exciting features coming up. For instance, the dark mode has been long in the pipeline, but we might finally be seeing the feature arrive sooner than later.
