Come January 2018, some devices will be stopped from accessing WhatsApp.
The app will drop support for iPhone 3GS/iOS 6, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8 and older. It will also pull out of Nokia S40 on December 31, 2018, then Android versions 2.3.7 and older on February 1, 2020.
And only a few out of the billions still use the older systems, such as Froyo which is only run by less than 0.1% of all Android devices.
As for Apple users, less than 0.03% of iPhone users are currently using iOS 6.
The figure for Blackberry OS is less than 0.5 %, and Windows Phone is only run by roughly 1% of UK smartphone users.
WhatsApp said in a statement: “As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.
“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… to continue using WhatsApp.”
