WhatsApp to stop working for older devices in the coming year

Popular messaging service WhatsApp will officially stop working for a number of devices in 2017. This means if you are using an old smartphone or a feature phone, chances are that the app will no longer run from next year. According to a WhatsApp spokesperson, “While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.” The app has certainly seen a variety of updates ever since it was launched. The announcement was made earlier this year when the app celebrated its seventh birthday. It is the world’s most popular instant messaging app having more than one billion active users globally. As 2017 rolls in, WhatsApp will stop working on old iPhones, Windows Phone smartphones and Android devices. It was planning to drop support for Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10 at the same time, however it changed its plan and has extended its support period for these devices into 2017. Here is a list of devices that will no longer support WhatsApp by 2017:

• Devices running on Android 2.1
• Device running on Android 2.2
• Device running on Windows Phone 7
• iPhone 3GS
• Devices running iOS 6 or below

So before the app stops working, we advise you to backup and either move or upgrade do a device that will be supported in the future.