WhatsApp to stop working on MILLIONS of phones – check if you're affected

Are you still holding onto your trusty smartphone which you’ve been using for a good few years? That’s all good and well but if you use WhatsApp on that phone you should read further. One of these days your smartphone may not be smart enough to keep up with WhatsApp.

Who will be affected?

If your smartphone is one of the older models of Android, iOS and Windows, chances are that very soon your days of instant messaging via WhatsApp will be over.

The specific versions which will be affected are: Android 2.2 Froyo, iOS 6 and Windows Phone 7 & 8. For the average smartphone user this probably sounds like Greek.

Android 2.2 Froyo is smartphone software which Google launched on 20 May 2010. Manufacturing of the software was stopped a while back. Incidentally: Froyo is a popular shortening of frozen yogurt.

A good indication of whether a smartphone is older than five years is if it no longer has the ability to run WhatsApp.

Apple se iOS 6 was launched in September 2012 with the launch of the iPhone 5. If you received this message while using WhatsApp then there is unfortunately no other solution but for you to get yourself a newer cell phone: "Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use WhatsApp on this phone as WhatsApp will no longer support older versions of iOS."

According to Cydia Geeks you can change the software on your smartphone but it definitely isn’t recommended.

Are you concerned? First, take a deep breath. The only iPhone which doesn’t run iOS software 7 is the iPhone 3GS which was manufactured in 2009.

Windows Phone 7 & 8 WhatsApp function already came to an end as of 1 July 2016. Users would have found that they couldn’t load a WhatsApp account on their Windows 7 smartphone.

If you are using a Windows 8 phone and it has an internet connection there shouldn’t be any problem with using WhatsApp.

Are you still unsure if your smartphone is on WhatsApp’s black-list?

Here is the list distributed by WhatsApp:

1. BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10

2. Nokia S40

3. Nokia Symbian S60

4. Android 2.1 and Android 2.2

5. Windows Phone 7

6. iPhone 3GS/iOS 6

Should I throw my Blackberry away?

Wait before taking any drastic steps!

The WhatsApp group has extended the service for BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 until 30 June 2017.

Sources: telegraph.co.uk, indusnet.co.in, gadgets.ndtv.com, cydiageeks.com, www.whatsapp.com

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