WhatsApp farewell note for 2017 is not good news for some smartphone users. The app company said they will stop support for customers using Nokia, Windows and BlackBerry phones along with phones running old software versions after December 31.
The planned phase-out in favor of steering resources into the more popular Android and iOS versions of the app.
According to the popular messaging app, “because we will no longer actively develop for these platforms, some features may stop functioning at any time.”
Since WhatsApp will no longer be actively developing these platforms, don’t expect to get your hands on any new features either.
Likewise, glitches and bugs within the app will not be fixed with software updates.
If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone to continue using WhatsApp part of the blog read.
If you are using one of the affected models, you will need to upgrade to a newer OS to ensure ongoing support.
This includes Android running OS 4.0 or above, iPhone running iOS 7 or above, or Windows Phone 8.1 or above.
Writing in a support note on WhatsApp’s website, a company spokesman said: ‘These platforms don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.
‘If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading. Once you have one of these devices.
Removing support for less popular platforms should not entirely come as a surprise, however, with WhatsApp releasing a blog post in February 2016 signalling its intentions.
Writing in it, the firm said: ‘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.
‘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.’
For Windows users, the thought of losing WhatsApp is likely not their main concern after the announcement from Microsoft stating it is giving up on the mobile phone range.
