WhatsApp will stop working on a selection of smartphones
and mobile platforms in the new year.
From 1 January 2018, the messenger service won’t be
available on any handsets running Windows Phone 8.0 (or
older versions of the operating system), BlackBerry OS or
BlackBerry 10.
The Independent reports that the company made the
announcement in an update to a blog post that was
originally published in February 2016.
The company statement reads: “When we started WhatsApp
in 2009, people’s use of mobile devices looked very different
from today. The Apple App Store was only a few months old.
About 70 percent of smartphones sold at the time had
operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia.
“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.”
The platforms that are being cut are unpopular, and have
been for some time. The company ended support for Nokia
Symbian S60 devices in June.

It is also planning to cut support for Nokia S40 devices on
December 31, 2018 and phones running Android versions
2.3.7 and older on February 1, 2020.
Although these platforms are still supported, WhatsApp is
no longer actively developing for them, which means
some features could stop functioning at any moment.
The company added that: “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."

Rush and upgrade your phone now