WhatsApp drops support for older iPhones in latest update

WhatsApp is one of the most popular mobile-based chat applications in use today, thanks to its cross-platform support on iOS, Android, plus KaiOS for basic phones - as well as web versions for Windows and macOS. However, as the app keeps adding new features to the platform, it sometimes has to drop support for older, more outdated devices. The latest devices to lose support for Facebook’s popular messaging app are Apple’s iPhones running iOS 9.

We reported on March 7 that the beta version 2.21.50.11 of WhatsApp Messenger for iOS had dropped support for iPhones running iOS 9. It now appears that the company has moved that version up to the stable channel, meaning users on these devices will not receive further updates on their phones.

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Owners of Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4s will now effectively be unable to update their WhatsApp app, which means it will eventually stop working after a few weeks and prompt users to install an update that is incompatible with their device. Meanwhile, those who own iPhone 5, 5s and 5c who are still on iOS 9, should update their devices to at least iOS 10 in order to be able to continue using WhatsApp.

In fact, WhatsApp’s official support page for compatible devices has now been updated to state that the company “provides support for and recommends” using iPhones running iOS 10 and newer, confirming the reports of the support being dropped for Apple’s old operating system.

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It is worth noting that the iPhone 4s is now a ten-year-old device, so those users who are still on the software can still continue to use their device for calling and texting and sending emails. But if they want to continue using WhatsApp, they can back up their chats to iCloud and move to a new iPhone, then restore all their old chats.