WhatsApp update: Know why it will stop working on these smartphones - is your phone on list?

In some bad news for those who are still using Apple's old iPhones, Facebook-owned instant messaging platform has published a new support document that shares details on ending support for devices running iOS 9 and earlier versions of the operating system (OS). So, if your smartphone is on the list, then know that WhatsApp will stop working on it.

Those who are still on iOS 9, won't be able to use the popular messaging platform. Users of Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4s will now effectively be unable to update their WhatsApp app. However, other iPhone users must do the needful too. Users of iPhone 5 series need to update their devices to at least iOS 10 in order to be able to continue using this messaging app.

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To date, iOS 9 users were able to use the encrypted chat service. However, now iOS 10 is required which means users will need an iPhone 5 or later model to use WhatsApp. The change will affect users of the iPhone 4S for the most part, but this is still only a tiny percentage of iPhone users, the news agency IANS reported. In December. Apple confirmed that 81 per cent of iPhone users are running iOS 14, with a further 17 per cent on iOS 13 or earlier, which means that only 2 per cent of iPhone users are running a version of iOS 12 or earlier," reports iMore.

Last year, WhatsApp dropped support for iOS 8 and older versions of the operating system. WhatsApp is working on a new password protection feature that will encrypt chat backups in Cloud, making them accessible only to the users. WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, but this protection currently doesn't apply to online backups stored on Google Drive and Apple iCloud.