Some WhatsApp users are facing the nightmare of being blocked from the hugely popular service.
The Facebook-owned firm has been very upfront about the fact it can’t continue to support older operating systems or smartphones with many ageing platforms already blocked from the app.
Nokia and Blackberry were hit by the ban in 2017 with all Windows phone losing support later this year.
iPhones using iOS 7 and Android devices with version 2.3.7 were also already on the blacklist with owners no longer being able to use WhatsApp from February 1st.
However, as spotted by WaBetainfo, it now seems more Apple fans face disappointment.
WhatsApp has recently refreshed its support page with a message that states, “WhatsApp for iPhone requires iOS 9 or later.
“On iOS 8, you can no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts. If WhatsApp is currently active on your iOS 8 device, you’ll be able to use it until February 1, 2020.
“For the best experience, we recommend you use the latest version of iOS available for your phone.”
iOS 8 was first released back in 2014 and is now installed on around 0.3 per cent of devices across the globe so this shouldn’t have a huge impact on most iPhone users.
But, if you still love using WhatsApp and have iOS 8 installed on your smartphone then you will need to consider upgrading to a newer device or making sure your software is fully up to date.
Justifying the decision to stop supporting these phones, WhatsApp said in a blog post: “As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.
“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 to continue using WhatsApp.”
Along with WhatsApp urging users to upgrade their devices, there is another reason to consider moving to a new iPhone.
Apple recently released its latest iOS13 operating system which includes a bunch of new features such as Dark Mode, a better Photos app and improvements to the overall speed of devices.
You can find a full list of new IOS 13 features here.
To use this upgrade you’ll need to own one of the iPhone listed below.
The only iPhone models which are getting the bump to iOS 13 are:
iPhone 11 • iPhone 11 Pro • iPhone 11 Pro Max • iPhone XS • iPhone XS Max • iPhone XR • iPhone X • iPhone 8 • iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 • iPhone 7 Plus • iPhone 6s • iPhone 6s Plus • iPhone SE • iPod touch (7th generation)
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