In February this year, WhatsApp gave users an alert about an impending end of support for older mobile operating systems. Such as Android 2.2 Froyo, Windows Phone 7, iOS 6 and their earlier versions.
A move the company says was a difficult decision to make, but one that was nonetheless necessary if they were going to offer same features parity for all devices running WhatsApp.
To put the matter into clear perspective, Android 2.2 Froyo came out in December 2010. That means a user with such a smartphone, is using a 6-years-old smartphone. For iOS devices users, it is only the iPhone 3GS, which has not received the iOS 7 upgrade released in 2009. The same goes for all Windows 7 Phones and older versions.
WhatsApp has over the years added new features, document sharing, voice and video calling. Features the company says can be too tasking for older phones, especially ones running older mobile operating systems. Though the decision to drop support for older devices was tough but the decision, it is, however, the “right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.”
WhatsApps says older mobile Oss will not enable them to “off the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.”
In other words, WhatsApp is telling you, if you are using a very old phone. It is time you upgrade, failure to which you will be kicked out of the platform. Users with devices running on Blackberry 10 OS, Nokia Symbian S40, and S60 will be next in line. Come June 2017, WhatsApp will also end support for mobile devices running these operating systems. Nokia and BlackBerry users should consider this as an early warning.