WhatsApp to stop working on a few smartphones post June 30

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has brought about many changes to its app in the recent past. With it’s recently-launched re-vamped ‘Status’ feature, it seems like the company plans on taking the other social-networking apps on, as far as the chatting experience is concerned. The app is pretty popular among fellow users too. Not only does it serve as a daily form of communication for many, it has also proven to be quite beneficial for those who conduct businesses virtually. In times like these where WhatsApp has become such an important medium of communication, what were to happen if it were to suddenly stop working?

The company officially made the announcement sometime last year wherein it stated that while these mobile devices have an important part to play in their story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities they require in order to expand their app’s features in the future.

According to their official blogpost, WhatsApp will no longer have support for a few Symbian, BBOS, Windows, Android and iOS operating system versions. While initially, they were to end support for devices by the end of 2016 — the company later extended the date till June, 2017. Here are the devices that will no longer be supported.

‘So, by the end of 2016, we will be ending support for WhatsApp Messenger on the following mobile platforms:

BlackBerry, including BlackBerry 10

Nokia S40

Nokia Symbian S60

Android 2.1 and Android 2.2

Windows Phone 7.1

iPhone 3GS/iOS 6

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. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.’

“This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family and loves ones using WhatsApp,” the company said in a statement.

Fortunately for most users, they can expect a great update too.

The company was recently rumoured to be working on a new feature for Windows devices that would apparently allow WhatsApp users to keep their chat-data such as photos, GIFs, messages and videos organised. Users will get to know how many messages, photos, GIFs, etc have been exchanged with each individual.