WhatsApp to Pull Support for Older iPhones From Next Year

[MacRumors]

WhatsApp announced on Thursday that its mobile app will stop working on some older smartphones from next year, as it concentrates on developing new features for the popular messaging platform.

The decision means that from January 1, 2018, WhatsApp will pull support for the app on iPhone 3GS and older models, as well as iPhones running iOS 6 and earlier. The list of unsupported phones also includes Android 2.1 and 2.2, BlackBerry OS, and Windows Phone 7.

Explaining its reason for the move, WhatsApp said that when it was founded back in 2009, the mobile landscape was very different.

"About 70 percent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia," the company said. "Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft - which account for 99.5 percent of sales today - were on less than 25 percent of mobile devices sold at the time."

Apple's iPhone 3GS was released in June 2009, while iOS 6 was released on September 19, 2012, followed by iOS 7 in 2013. According to Apteligent Research, less than 0.04 percent of iPhone users are currently using iOS 6. Apple's most recent mobile OS, iOS 11, was released on September 19, 2017, and accounts for over 75 percent of active iOS users.

(Via Sky News.)

Article Link: WhatsApp to Pull Support for Older iPhones From Next Year

 

[MH01]

Shame they are pulling WhatsApp, does a great job communicating people across platforms , so much better than FB

 

[akbarali.ch]

Support. Is someone holding something on their shoulder so that these phones run whatsapp. They use the same communication channel what other phones use. Why discriminate and stop them functioning. I mean sms is still working on today's phones and the earliest phones as well. They may not support new flashy function but let it work as upto whatever was working. iMessage is still working on 3gs.

 

[Aussi3]

Can’t last forever gotta move on sometime

 

[JosephAW]

Reminds me when MS pulled support for Skype for Power PC at the time I was communicating with my friends in Europe who could not afford a newer Apple computer.
MS eventually won because my friends could afford a low cost Windows pc and abandoned the Mac.

 

[MacWanker]

Still works on my Blackbery 9700 which is my workhorse for emails.


This was supposed to happen jan 1st 2017 I think.. that was then extended until June 2017, now this new date has been showing in the app for a while.

Will see if it happens this time. Shame if it does.


Edit - bugger, it also lists blackberry 10 as well as BBOS, so I can't even switch to my classic for it.

 

[Kabeyun]

I’m sure both people still using a 3GS will be very disappointed.

 

[PR1985]

Good. To all of you who do not understand why they do this: Costs.

 

[justperry]

I’m sure both people still using a 3GS will be very disappointed.

Not necessarily, my girl has one and a 5S.(2 Sim Cards/providers-Asian)

......

Bold: So, that's 50%.

 

[scrapesleon]

People need to upgrade with the time or you simply just get left behind

 

[I7guy]

Iphone 3gs, that's ancient? I wonder how many users will be affected by this? I'll say this. I got whatsapp on my blackberry, when I ditched the blackberry for an iphone I never installed whatsapp. About a year ago I reinstalled whatsapp and since I never changed phone numbers, my info was still in their database.

 

[norz]

Telegram still works well on iOS 6.
And it was launched only four years ago.

 

[JayJohnPaul]

I think it’s about time they redesigned their app instead of adding pointless Snapchat features... The iOS version looks dated and dull, it still looks like when it first rolled out to the public in 2009. WhatsApp was slightly redesigned in 2013 to blend in with iOS 7 but aside from that nothing major has changed. The Android version looks a bit modern but all cluttered.

 

[Johnny London]

Ah, that was such a Nice looking phone!

 

[macTW]

“This is Apple’s fault! Screw Apple!”

 

[Kabeyun]

Not necessarily, my girl has one and a 5S.(2 Sim Cards/providers-Asian)

......

Bold: So, that's 50%.

Lol! Shout out to the other one.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

People need to upgrade with the time or you simply just get left behind

Pretty sure people still using a phone that belongs in the Smithsonian are OK with that. I mean if anyone who still has a 3GS as a daily phone set up home in 2009 and decided to stay for awhile.

 

[Jimmy James]

Not necessarily, my girl has one and a 5S.(2 Sim Cards/providers-Asian)

......

Bold: So, that's 50%.

I wonder who has the other one.

 

[LotusLord]

I have a 3Gs still (my first iPhone), but don't use it. My 5s has taken it's place as my backup should anything happen to my primary device. In my mind it's not too crazy for them to do this. In fact they're supporting older things than I would, though I have to remember that there are people in other countries (and my cheapskate Dad in the US) using older model phones still.

 

[boccabella]

Translation: Our ad platform is not compatible with these operating systems.

 

[justperry]

I wonder who has the other one.

Santa claus

Darn, he upgraded to an iPhone 4 just recently.
.
.
.

 

[vooke]

I’ve never understood why WhatsApp can’t or won’t run on iPad. There’s no sane reason why it shouldn’t

 

[Liebo]

WhatsApp currently needs iOS 7 to install new so am I right in assuming that those on iOS 6 and below are using older clients?

 

[potatis]

Isn't iOS 8 minimum required for apps, or is that only for new code?

 

[springsup]

Nothing lasts forever. Web standards move on, your browser doesn't support them, you get degraded (or non-existent) experiences. Native apps are no different - mobile APIs change, your phone doesn't support them, you can't use the latest Apps and the ones you have may not get updates (and if they connect to a cloud service, like WhatsApp, that may mean they stop working).