WhatsApp will be blocked on MILLIONS of iPhones and Androids in five days
WHATSAPP is about to be blocked on millions of phones in just five days.
The November deadline for the block is nearly here – and will lock some iPhones and Android mobiles out of the chat app forever.
Any users affected by the block will need to update their software, or buy a new phone.
It’s possible that your handset may be too old to update, forcing you to upgrade.
More than 50 different smartphone models are expected to be affected.
The deadline for the change is November 1, after which point WhatsApp will stop working on those models.
Model mayhem
For Android users, you’ll need to be running Android 4.1 or later.
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And for iPhone users, you’ll need to be on iOS 10 or later.
On the Android front, that means a host of popular phones will lose access, including the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Huawei Ascend Mate.
For Apple, you’ll lose access on an iPhone 4 or older.
And if you’ve never updated your iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus or iPhone SE (2016), you’ll lose access until you update.
That’s because they launched on iOS 9.
But you can update all three models to iOS 15 – the latest version – and keep access to WhatsApp.
Tech companies regularly stop supporting older devices.
Google did just that with old Android phones for Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps.
Sometimes it’s because it’s simply not cost-efficient to keep apps working on very old versions of iOS or Android.
That’s especially the case if only a small percentage of users are running these old versions of software.
Using outdated software can also be a huge security risk – so it’s important you update, or upgrade if you can’t.
The phones losing WhatsApp support
Here's 52 of the affected devices. Note that some of these phones can still be updated to restore access...
- Galaxy Trend Lite
- Galaxy Trend II
- Galaxy SII
- Galaxy S3 mini
- Galaxy Xcover 2
- Galaxy Core
- Galaxy Ace 2
- Lucid 2
- Optimus F7
- Optimus F5
- Optimus L3 II Dual
- Optimus F5
- Optimus L5
- Best L5 II
- Optimus L5 Dual
- Best L3 II
- Optimus L7
- Optimus L7 II Dual
- Best L7 II
- Optimus F6, Enact
- Optimus L4 II Dual
- Optimus F3
- Best L4 II
- Best L2 II
- Optimus Nitro HD
- Optimus 4X HD
- Optimus F3Q
- ZTE V956
- Grand X Quad V987
- Grand Memo
- Xperia Miro
- Xperia Neo L
- Xperia Arc S
- Alcatel
- Ascend G740
- Ascend Mate
- Ascend D Quad XL
- Ascend D1 Quad XL
- Ascend P1 S
- Ascend D2
- Archos 53 Platinum
- HTC Desire 500
- Caterpillar Cat B15
- Wiko Cink Five
- Wiko Darknight
- Lenovo A820
- UMi X2
- Run F1
- THL W8
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 6S
- iPhone 6S Plus
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