It’s hardly surprising that this year, roughly 50 handsets will no longer be able to operate WhatsApp because the messaging service regularly phases out older cell phones. The support for a sizable portion of Android and iOS devices is being phased out by WhatsApp for the second time in the last three months.
Last time, WhatsApp said in October that it will stop supporting the iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, and iPhone 6S Plus, as well as at least 40 Android handsets made by Samsung, Huawei, LG, Sony, ZTE, HTC, Lenovo, and Alcatel.
Do old phones not support Whatsapp?
The Apple iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c are among the roughly 50 phones that WhatsApp has confirmed it would no longer support. Samsung, Huawei, LG, Sony, Lenovo, and ZTE are among the other phone manufacturers on the list.
These phones won’t be supported any longer because they haven’t received any updates in a very long time. It appears that WhatsApp has increased the prerequisites for its software, so devices that don’t run iOS 12 or Android 5.0 Lollipop will not be able to use it.
As of right now, WhatsApp’s FAQ page still states that it works with Android devices running OS 4.1 and later. We’re not sure how accurate the information is as many (if not all) of the phones that will no longer support WhatsApp at the end of the year are powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The list which was first published by GizChina, consists primarily of entry-level and mid-range smartphones . To continue using WhatsApp and get new updates, you should definitely switch to a newer phone if you’re using one of these gadgets.
Apple
- iPhone 5
- iPhone 5c
Archos
- Archos 53 Platinum
ZTE
- ZTE Grand S Flex
- ZTE Grand X Quad V987
- ZTE Memo V956
HTC
- HTC Desire 500
Huawei
- Huawei Ascend D
- Huawei Ascend D1
- Huawei Ascend D2
- Huawei Ascend G740
- Huawei Ascend Mate
- Huawei Ascend P1
- Huawei Ascend D quad XL
Lenovo
- Lenovo A820
LG
- 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
Samsung
- 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
- Sony Xperia Arc S
- Sony Xperia miro
- Sony Xperia Neo L
Wiko
- Wiko Cink Five
- Wiko Darknight ZT
Whatsapp being efficient
It makes sense for WhatsApp to redirect its resources to the areas where they are most needed since the vast majority of these phones have already been terminated. The above-mentioned phones should theoretically no longer be able to operate WhatsApp after December 31. There are certainly workarounds that will enable WhatsApp users to continue using the service on incompatible smartphones, but this only postpones the inevitable.
WhatsApp claims that anytime it makes a decision on what to stop supporting, it considers which hardware and software are the most outdated and have the fewest users. This implies that even if WhatsApp determines that there are still a lot of people using your phone, which runs a much older version of Android, it could still be maintained.
Nevertheless, WhatsApp will do its share and discontinue support for older devices running its app as Apple and Google continue to release new iOS and Android versions. It’s simply another tactic to get customers to upgrade to newer models if they want to keep getting the same level of support as other WhatsApp users.
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