If you’ve still got iPhone 5 or 5c that’s still in great condition, sadly you’ll have to get a new iPhone if you want to keep using WhatsApp after October 24.
According to Mashable India, WhatsApp will no longer be supporting devices that run iOS 10 and 11. Android users will also need to make sure their devices are running 4.1 or later if they want to continue using the app.
WhatsApp supported software versions
On its Help Center, WhatsApp has listed its currently supported operating systems and these are:
- Android running OS 4.1 and newer
- iPhone running iOS 12 and newer
- KaiOS 2.5.0 and newer, including JioPhone and JioPhone 2
While some reports have stated that WhatsApp are directly alerting users still running the old software, in case you don’t get a message, it would be a good idea to check what software update your device is running.
How to check your software version
To check what software version your iPhone is running, tap Settings, then About and you should see your Software Version as a four digit number such as 15.6.1 which is the latest version for Apple devices.
Android users will need to tap Settings, then About phone, Android version, Android security update and then Build number.
Last year, WhatsApp had announced that it was going to end support for these operating systems in November 2021 but it seems that the developer let people hold on to their old phones for just a little longer.
They also introduced a feature that let users migrate their chats when switching from iOS to Samsung Android so if you’re thinking about making a switch from iPhone to Android or vice versa, now would be a good time to do it as it can only be done when first setting up your phone.
“Your new Android device must be factory new or reset to factory settings,” says WhatsApp, or will have to reset to factory settings.