After June 30, 2017, WhatsApp won’t work on millions of smartphones that are running older versions of Android, iOS, or Windows Phone. The company has taken this decision to accelerate the growth of the platform by focussing the resources on newer devices.
Earlier this year in February, it was announced that Facebook-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp will end support for some devices by the end of 2016. The team called this a tough decision that was needed to focus the resources on other devices.
The devices being talked about here are older versions of Android, Symbian OS, and others (the complete list is shared below). However, the company has decided to extend the support until June 30, 2017.
The company has updated its official blog post that recommended upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone version to continue using WhatsApp.
WhatsApp won’t work on these devices after June 30, 2017:
Android 2.1 and Android 2.2
Nokia S40
Nokia Symbian S60
BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10
iPhone 3GS/iOS 6
Windows Phone 7
It looks like WhatsApp is taking these steps as these older platforms hinder the growth of the app by not supporting the newer features.
“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,” the company adds in its blog post.
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