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WhatsApp to End Support for iOS 10 and iOS 11, Require iPhone 5S or Later to Work

Downgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 6 and then updated to iOS 8.4.1
That’s where I’ll leave it. Still can make calls and text using TextNow and Line2. Still can use gps driving direction using HERE Maps.
Lately placed in dock and using iQuarium with virtual clock and alarm. :cool:
 
What I’m more concerned is that iOS 12 is going to be thrown under the bus by everyone.

Still using iOS 12 for my iPhone 6 work phone, my iPad Air cellular.
A few key apps have stopped updating on these devices but are still compatible for now. iCloud syncing still works great for now but for how much longer?
 
JosephAW said:
What I’m more concerned is that iOS 12 is going to be thrown under the bus by everyone.

Still using iOS 12 for my iPhone 6 work phone, my iPad Air cellular.
A few key apps have stopped updating on these devices but are still compatible for now. iCloud syncing still works great for now but for how much longer?
Click to expand...
Software support will likely end when fewer and fewer people are using it. If this report is an indication, maybe iOS 12 will be nixed in a couple of years.

One thing to note though, the iPhone 6 I believe was the most popular iPhone, so there could be a larger volume of people using one, so that two years might be longer. Difficult to tell, and it's obviously down to the software vendor.
 
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Blackstick said:
My 72YO father in law has a used 5 that his other daughter found him cheap… because all the man does is text and make calls. I think he had the battery replaced. To him, the “phone is a phone” and nothing more. Doesn’t even have any apps downloaded ?‍♂️
Click to expand...

So apps dropping support for old hardware affects people who have old hardware and don't have any apps downloaded how? ?‍♂️
 
Blackstick said:
My 72YO father in law has a used 5 that his other daughter found him cheap… because all the man does is text and make calls. I think he had the battery replaced. To him, the “phone is a phone” and nothing more. Doesn’t even have any apps downloaded ?‍♂️
Click to expand...
It won't affect him then.
 
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The iPhone 5 was great. I still used it in 2019 and only replaced it with an SE because my wife wanted an 11.

This would probably have made me upgrade though.

I still don't really care about new iPhones. I need them to make phone calls, whatsapp, banking and the occasional internet search. For everything else, I use my comfortably large iMac. I don't travel much though. Things might be different if I did.
 
Blackstick said:
My 72YO father in law has a used 5 that his other daughter found him cheap… because all the man does is text and make calls. I think he had the battery replaced. To him, the “phone is a phone” and nothing more. Doesn’t even have any apps downloaded ?‍♂️

He’s not alone.
Click to expand...

Fortunately he won't care about apps ending support if he doesn't have any apps.
 
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yabeweb said:
While I agree, it makes little sense to drop support.

I mean I can understand not porting new features and that would be legit, but keeping at least the text part wouldmake sense.
Click to expand...
It makes little financial sense to support a version of an app that has a smaller and smaller user base. How much money should a company spend to support 2% of their user base? 1%? Less? At some point its best to just drop support for those users and concentrate on the growing user base that is the other 99% of users.
 
chrisbru said:
Fortunately he won't care about apps ending support if he doesn't have any apps.
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Heh... yeah, many of the "old fashioned users" may have switched to Android or iOS, but TBT, they just wanted a phone that's still compatible with today's cell networks. They'd stick with their flip phones that run Symbian OS if they could, but those are getting harder and harder to find.

I recall attending an Android developers seminar, they told us that even if you have people who are on very old versions of Android, you really don't need to go that far back. Those who still have Android versions from long ago got their phones for cheap or free to make calls and txt. They wouldn't be interested in your apps anyways.

Orange Bat said:
It makes little financial sense to support a version of an app that has a smaller and smaller user base. How much money should a company spend to support 2% of their user base? 1%? Less? At some point its best to just drop support for those users and concentrate on the growing user base that is the other 99% of users.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I use Paint.NET, and the developers mentioned that one major release will be the last one that supports Windows 7. From then on, it's win10 only. There are fewer and fewer people on Win7 nowadays, but the cost to update to support that is climbing higher and higher. It's the same deal here (unless somebody can think of exceptions). Plus, Apple will release the "purge monster" every now and then which will gobble up apps that aren't compliant with their requirements for devs. I'd imagine being on too old of an developer API is one of them
 
chucker23n1 said:
They ended up not doing that.



I bet.



No, it isn't. Not supporting newer characters in a typeface isn't the same scope as relying on stuff from newer OSes. Yeah, you can replicate some of the behavior from newer OSes, but there's a point where the costs outweigh the benefits by a long shot.



OK, and how does encryption work? How does the UI work? What happens if the network transport changes?

Do you think WhatsApp should work on iPhoneOS 1.0? How about Mac OS X 10.0? Mac OS 8? If not, why not? That's right: because the further you go back, the more effort it takes that could be better spent on things that actually matter to most users.
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Mercedes33 has zero clue what it takes to support what are now considered essential functions now. The disturbing trend is users here who honestly think developers should waste their time supporting older operating systems that no longer have the development frameworks necessary to move forward with advanced features then and what are standard features now. If someone chooses to waste their time and effort keeping their old iPhone 4s running, that's up to them. Them thinking that devs should continue to spend finite time and resources supporting those older devices and operating systems really speaks to their naïveté. WhatsApp supporting back to iOS 10 should be commended, not derided, but I don't make up the rules here.
 
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Unregistered 4U said:
EU: That’s anti-competitive and anti-consumer. Although we have no idea as to why this is being done, we feel compelled to create legislation saying that you can’t.

In the future, all feature changes must be presented to the committee for approval prior to starting work on it.
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This post has nothing to do with EU legislation. Apple already goes far beyond the legal requirement for software support. Or WhatsApp, abandoning a 10-year-old phone.
 
Unggoy Murderer said:
Software support will likely end when fewer and fewer people are using it. If this report is an indication, maybe iOS 12 will be nixed in a couple of years.

One thing to note though, the iPhone 6 I believe was the most popular iPhone, so there could be a larger volume of people using one, so that two years might be longer. Difficult to tell, and it's obviously down to the software vendor.
Click to expand...
well, ios 11 have 0.02% market share of the iOS user base. it's probably safe to abandon.

Edit: iOS 12 have 1.4% marketshare.
 
Sophisticatednut said:
This post has nothing to do with EU legislation. Apple already goes far beyond the legal requirement for software support. Or WhatsApp, abandoning a 10-year-old phone.
Click to expand...
Apple CURRENTLY goes beyond the legal requirements. However, legal requirements in the EU can be changed whenever the EU sees fit to change them. If the EU were to determine that WhatsApp isn’t allowed to end support iOS 10 and 11, then they wouldn’t be able to and maintain operations in the EU.
 
Unregistered 4U said:
Apple CURRENTLY goes beyond the legal requirements. However, legal requirements in the EU USA or (insert national government) can be changed whenever the EU (insert national government) sees fit to change them.
Click to expand...
This is true for 100% of all governments on the planet.
Unregistered 4U said:
If the EU were to determine that WhatsApp isn’t allowed to end support iOS 10 and 11, then they wouldn’t be able to and maintain operations in the EU.
Click to expand...
EU cannot demand that WhatsApp isn’t allowed to end support without everyone also being included.
 
Sophisticatednut said:
This is true for 100% of all governments on the planet.
Click to expand...
Which means it’s true for the EU. As, they ARE one of the governments on the planet.
Sophisticatednut said:
EU cannot demand that WhatsApp isn’t allowed to end support without everyone also being included.
Click to expand...
The EU can demand whatever they want to demand. This is also true for 100% of all the governments on the planet.
 
Well i use my IPhone 4s as my Daily. But i also have an IPhone 8 which is only in use when it Comes to WhatsApp. The iPhone 4s is for me the Most iconic iPhone. Its the Last One were Steve Jobs worked on. Its struggel a Bit on iOS 9 but the Main Apps like Apple Music Even Safari works fine. So Why to Upgrade. I often sit in my car so my iPhone 8 is Laying in the car when i got messages. Also i have WhatsApp on my MacBook always on which is staying Home. So i think this is the Perfect result for me.
But Most People sende me an SMS so i answer it From my IPhone 4s
 
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