WhatsApp has become one of the world’s most popular messaging apps over the past seven years and now they’re planning for the next seven years. The company has announced they will drop support for some older operating systems to concentrate on making WhatsApp a better experience for modern smartphones. By the end of 2016 you can expect all devices running Windows Phone 7.1, Android 2.1/2.2, BlackBerry, Nokia S40/S60 to lose support for the popular app. For many users here in the United States the move is likely not going to affect anyone but in many other countries this could have an impact.
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.
This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.
While it might be difficult for some users of older operating systems to accept, WhatsApp’s choice here is probably the right way to go. Keeping the app compatible with older operating systems and trying to build for newer systems is not an easy task as some things just can’t be handled by older OS’s. The app’s popularity almost demands that it make this move. So if you’re on an older operating system and absolutely need WhatsApp, it’s probably time to upgrade to an iPhone or newer Android phone before you lose support.
What do you think of WhatsApp ditching support for older operating systems including BlackBerry? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.techtimes.com/articles/137144/20160228/whatsapp-ending-support-for-blackberry-nokia-windows-phone-7-1-and-older-android-versions.htm” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: TechTimes[/button] [button link=”https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000617/WhatsApp-support-for-mobile-devices” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: WhatsApp[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
