WhatsApp has dropped support for smartphones running on older versions of Android, iOS and Windows operating system. Although, the effect won’t be huge since the market share of these operating systems has faded overtime. As a result, the popular messaging service has phased out working on older versions of smartphone operating systems. This major decision has been taken up in order to divert their resources to newer versions.
According to Google’s own dashboard, Android 2.2 is running on just 0.1 percent devices. Most Android users are either using Marshmallow or Lollipop or KitKat, so the effect will be very much limited. The stats in the world of apple stays quiet the same, only less than 8 percent of devices are running on ancient versions of iOS. It shouldn’t be making a gigantic impact after all!
Windows Phone has been a dead ecosystem for most part of this year and WhatsApp is aptly pulling down support for all devices running Windows Phone 7.1. WhatsApp has initiated a similar move on Nokia’s Symbian or BlackBerry OS platforms as well. WhatsApp states that these ecosystems “Don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.”
There are also rumors being heard that they might include a new feature that would allow people to edit or entirely delete messages after they have been sent. WhatsApp continues to grow as the most popular messaging platform in this digital era. The Facebook-owned company has advised that anyone with the above-mentioned older handsets might want to upgrade their operating systems (or new device maybe) to stay connected with their friends and family!
