From February 1st, WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, will no longer work on several older smartphone models. WhatsApp has long recommended that for optimal use of the app, phones are updated to the following operating systems: Android version 4.0.3 and later, iPhone version iOS 9 and later, and some phones with KaiOS 2.5.1 and later, including JioPhone and JioPhone 2.
Up to now it has also been possible to use the app with older software versions, but from 1 February this will no longer be possible. On phones that support at most Android 2.3.7, and iPhone phones that support iOS 8 at most, it will no longer be possible to create a new account, or re-verify an existing account. Most of the affected phones have not been on the market for several years, although still very popular, such as the iPhone 4S, which supports at most iOS 7. WhatsApp explained that it had made this decision in order to guarantee the security of all its users, which in older software would not have been possible.
