Millions of people with older Apple and Android phones will be blocked from using WhatsApp in two days’ time if they don’t upgrade. The popular messaging service has announced it will cease working on 49 makes of phone from the 31st of December.
Affected mobiles include the iPhone 5 and 5C and various Android devices such as Samsung, Huawei, and LG. But there is no need to panic.
Users of affected phones will be sent an alert in the app before it stops functioning. WhatsApp said: “Devices and software change often, so we regularly review what operating systems we support and make updates.”
Read: How to Create a Poll in WhatsApp and Send It to Your Contacts
They added: “These devices also might not have the latest security updates, or might lack the functionality required to run WhatsApp. To choose what to stop supporting, every year we, like other technology companies, look at which devices and software are the oldest and have the latest number of people still using them.”
The complete list of phones affected
The latest update, coming into play this weekend, will affect 47 models:
- iPhone 5, 5c
- Archos 53 Platinum
- Grand S Flex ZTE
- Grand X Quad V987 ZTE
- HTC Desire 500
- Huawei Ascend D
- Huawei Ascend D1
- Huawei Ascend D2
- Huawei Ascend G740
- Huawei Ascend Mate
- Huawei Ascend P1
- Quad XL
- Lenovo A820
- LG Enact
- LG Lucid 2
- LG Optimus 4X HD
- LG Optimus F3
- LG Optimus F3Q
- LG Optimus F5
- LG Optimus F6
- LG Optimus F7
- LG Optimus L2 II
- LG Optimus L3 II
- LG Optimus L3 II Dual
- LG Optimus L4 II
- LG Optimus L4 II Dual
- LG Optimus L5
- LG Optimus L5 Dual
- LG Optimus L5 II
- LG Optimus L7
- LG Optimus L7 II
- LG Optimus L7 II Dual
- LG Optimus Nitro HD
- Memo ZTE V956
- Samsung Galaxy Ace 2
- Samsung Galaxy Core
- Samsung Galaxy S2
- Samsung Galaxy S3 mini
- Samsung Galaxy Trend II
- Samsung Galaxy Trend Lite
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
- Sony Xperia Arc S
- Sony Xperia miro
- Sony Xperia Neo L
- Wiko Cink Five
- Wiko Darknight ZT
How to fix it
Updating your operating system is super easy. On an iPhone, all you need to do is go to the ‘General’ settings and select ‘software update’. If your phone cannot run the updated software, you will need a newer iPhone.
For Android, open the Google Play Store app. At the top right, tap the profile icon.
Then click Manage apps and device. Apps with an update available are labelled ‘update available’. Finally, tap ‘update’. Back in October WhatsApp stopped working on iPhones using iOS 11 and older software.
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