Facebook-owned social media network Whatsapp, in an update to an article titled Support for Older Operating Systems, has announced a move that will kick-out millions of smartphone users from accessing the platform.
The application techies announced that it will no longer actively work on support systems required by the identified smartphones and issued users a deadline to get new phones.
They have warned that some of the features on the App currently with an approximated 1.5 Billion users will close any time in a period of two years.
There will be no more new Whatsapp accounts allowed on Nokia s40 operating systems while those already using the device will continue accessing it until December 31, 2018.
Also affected are phones with Android versions 2.3.7, iOS7 and older versions but will allow the use of the platform until February 1, 2020.
[caption caption="Whatsapp graphic "]
[/caption]
The change is an update to what Whatsapp had announced in December last year that: “Devices with the following operating systems are no longer supported; Android versions older than 2.3.3, Windows Phone 8.0 and older, iPhone3GS/iOS6, Nokia Symbian S60, BlackBerry OS and Blackberry 10.”
Users of devices with older operating systems have been advised to buy new ones or still conveniently upgrade to Android OS 4.0+, iPhone iOS8+, Windows Phone8.1 or their respective newer versions.
“Once you have one of these devices, simply install Whatsapp and verify your number on the new (supported) device. Keep in mind that Whatsapp can only be activated with one phone number on one device at a time,” the article guides.
While making the move, users risk losing their chat history but have the option of transferring the conversations as attachments to their personal emails where they can be retrieved on need.
Whatsapp states that the move to leave out the devices was as a result of their inability to stand the new features the company intends to introduce in the near future.
In May, Facebook announced the introduction of Whatsapp group video and audio calling for Android users with the Whatsapp Beta version users and to select iOS device users. The company stated that this was a trial stage of the feature that will be rolled in the near future.
Currently, the select users can only use the group calling feature to talk to about four people at the same time. To have a group call, you first need to start a video with one participant before adding the other two. It is expected that once the feature is released, more people can be able to make the group video calls.
In order to know the version of your Android phone’s operating system, simply go to the settings section, click on About phone or About device and check a section labeled ‘Android Version’ with a numerical label.
Under the same section, you can for sure click on the systems updates section to find out whether your phone has software updates that can be made on the web.
