Irish WhatsApp users could be in for an expensive surprise as the nation’s most popular texting service is due to make some dramatic changes.
Over 1.4 million Irish people use WhatsApp every day, however, a new update will leave some iPhone users blocked from sending and receiving any messages.
According to WABetaInfo the app will stop working on iPhones running iOS 10 and iOS 11 from October 2022.
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This is bad news for iPhone 5 users.
This is because Apple's iOS 12 will be the minimum requirement for devices from this autumn and both the iPhone 5 and 5c can't run the newer software.
In the alert, WhatsApp warns: “Update to the latest version of iOS to continue using WhatsApp. WhatsApp will stop supporting this version of iOS after 24 Oct 2022.”
Along with this pop-up window on iPhones, the WhatsApp help centre now states: “Currently, we provide support for and recommend using the following devices: Android running OS 4.1 and newer, iPhone running iOS 12 and newer.”
It's not uncommon for the firm to drop support for older devices with the company needing to focus on upgrades that will be available for the majority of its users, as the Express reports.
As the iPhone 5 and 5c came out around 10 years ago not many people still use them.
According to Statista, the use of iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c only added up to around 0.5% of all iPhones in 2019, therefore it makes sense that these would be the phones to be culled from the service.
“Devices and software change often, so we regularly review what operating systems we support and make updates,” WhatsApp said.
“To choose what to stop supporting, every year we, like other technology companies, look at which devices and software are the oldest and have the fewest number of people still using them. These devices also might not have the latest security updates, or might lack the functionality required to run WhatsApp.”
