WhatsApp Will Stop Working On Millions of Phones in 2020

Last Updated 5 years ago

One of the most important worldwide apps for travelers is WhatsApp. If you have traveled outside of Canada and the United States, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Absolutely everyone uses it and compared to Facebook messenger, WhatsApp is king once your abroad.

Here is everything you need to know about the changes coming to WhatsApp that will make the popular social media app stop working on millions of phones.

WhatsApp is withdrawing support for certain type of phones in 2020. Here are the phones that will be affected:

From February 1, 2020, any iPhone running iOS 8 or older will no longer be supported
From February 1, 2020, any Android device running version 2.3.7 or older will no longer be supported.
From December 31, 2019 —WhatsApp is withdrawing support for ALL Windows phones

Users of these operating systems are already unable to create new WhatsApp accounts or re-verify existing accounts.

"Because we no longer actively develop for these operating systems, some features might stop functioning at any time"

WhatsApp statement

The Facebook-owned messenger service will continue to provide support for devices running Android 4.0.3 onwards and iPhones running iOS 9 and onwards.

According to the offical company WhatsApp blog post:

‘On iOS 8, you can no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts,”

‘If WhatsApp is currently active on your iOS 8 device, you'll be able to use it until February 1, 2020.'

WhatsApp has been gradually phasing out support for various smartphone platforms that ‘don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future'.

"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 loved ones using WhatsApp."

WhatsApp Statement

How do travelers ensure WhatsApp will continue to work on their phones?

Android Phones:

Check what version of Android you are running under the settings in your phone. Click on ‘settings' and then ‘about phone' then ‘software information'

Ensure your Android operating system number is 4.0.3 or greater.

iPhones:

Check what version of iPhone you are running. Click on the settings gear, then click on “General” and then “About” and it will list the version.

Ensure your iPhone IOS is greater than 8. There is an ‘update' button under the ‘about' section but if your phone is too old, it may not allow it. At that point your only option would be to get a new phone.

Sources: WhatsApp, Daily Mail

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