WhatsApp’s officially stopped working for older smartphones that run on outdated software such as Android 2.1 and iOS 6. The end of support had been announced by the company back in February last year.
To recap, WhatsApp originally rang a death knell for Android 2.1, Android 2.2, Windows Phone 7, iOS 6, iPhone 3GS, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40, and Nokia Symbian S60. However, it had a change of heart in November 2016 when it decided to grant a temporary reprieve to Nokia and BlackBerry owners for unknown reasons.
As such, BlackBerry and Nokia users won’t have WhatsApp snatched away from them till 30 June 2017. The company’s main reason for pulling back support in the first place stems from the fact that the ancient platforms don’t have the kind of capabilities required to expand its features going forward.
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Anyone with the older devices will have to switch to newer models running Android 2.3+, Windows Phone 8+, and iOS 7+ if they want to continue chatting via WhatsApp. Given the popularity of the chat app, most people will have no choice but to consider the switch.
Once they do so, they can simply install WhatsApp and verify their mobile number to carry on using WhatsApp with the same account. It should be noted that there’s currently no option to transfer a person’s chat history between platforms. The only choice left to consumers in this scenario is to export their conversations by attaching it to an email.
