WhatsApp to stop working on some mobile phones in 2020

Certain operating systems, including old versions of iOS and Android, will no longer be supported

WhatsApp will cease support for a number of operating systems in 2020. Dado Ruvic / Reuters

WhatsApp will soon cease operating on millions of phones around the world, as the messenger app withdraws support from a number of older operating systems.

Among the systems no longer supported will be older versions of iOS and Android, while the platform has announced that from December 31, 2019, it will no longer run on any Windows operated phone.

Any iPhone operating on iOS 8 or older will no longer be able to use WhatsApp, while Android users still wanting to use the app will need a version newer than 2.3.7. The changes will come in from February 1, 2020.

In a statement, WhatsApp said: “Because we no longer actively develop for these operating systems, some features might stop functioning at any time.”

Devices running on Android 4.0.3 or iOS 9 and above will be able to continue using WhatsApp as normal.

Over the past few years, the Facebook-owned messenger platform has been gradually phasing out a number of older operating systems that “don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future”, a spokesperson for the company said.

WhatsApp has also released a new update which will fix a bug that had been causing the app to crash for a number of Android users.

Among the other features of the new update are new skin tones for emojis and a call waiting function.