Key Highlights
- WhatsApp to drop support for iPhone 5, iPhone 5C
- iPhones running iOS 10, iOS 11 will not be able to use WhatsApp
- To continue using WhatsApp, users need to upgrade their devices
Do you use an iPhone? If so, you could end up in trouble. Here is a word of caution for many iPhone users. On select outdated devices, WhatsApp will stop functioning by October. It would prevent many users from using the Meta-owned messaging platform to send and receive media, messages, and other types of communication. Therefore, if you like using WhatsApp but have an older iPhone model, you need to update it.
Apple is reportedly alerting some iPhone owners that WhatsApp support for their handsets is ending, according to WABetaInfo. The messaging feature will no longer work on iPhones running iOS 10 and iOS 11. After that, WhatsApp won’t work on any of these older devices that don’t support iOS 12 or higher. This means anyone using an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5C will be blocked from accessing the messaging app after that.
In addition to this, there are numerous additional iPhone models that are not running iOS 12 or newer versions. These models are also in danger, but they can survive by updating their devices. The next software update, iOS 12 and higher is not compatible with the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C.
As per the reports, the messaging app has started to inform iPhone users who are running iOS 10 or iOS 11 versions of the app. Users of the messaging service have already been informed via a message that they can no longer access the app on their smartphones.
The report has been shared by WABetaInfo, a WhatsApp development tracker. They have also shared a screengrab of a pop-up reading, “WhatsApp will stop supporting this version of iOS after 24 Oct 2022. Please go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update to get the latest iOS version.”
This isn’t a new thing for the Meta-owned app. This has happened in the past as well where WhatsApp also ended support for a list of Android phones running Android 4.0.4 or older versions. The platform says that such devices are not capable to work with the latest app versions and pose a threat to the user’s security.
