If you have a very old Samsung Galaxy smartphone in your pocket it might be worth checking the model number if you love chatting on WhatsApp. The hugely popular messaging app has confirmed that it is dropping support for some ageing Android operating systems and those with phones that can’t upgrade to the latest versions of this software will face an instant block.
“Starting October 24, 2023, only Android OS version 5.0 and newer will be supported,” WhatsApp confirmed in an update on its support pages. “To keep up with the latest advances in technology, we routinely stop supporting older operating systems to point our resources to supporting the latest ones.
“If we stop supporting your operating system, you’ll be notified and reminded a few times to upgrade your device to continue using WhatsApp.”
Although that sounds incredibly scary you’re probably find that you can keep on sending those chats and tuning into Group Messages without a hitch.
That’s because you’re going to need to using a very old Android phone to be affected.
This latest change will hit anyone using devices such as the Galaxy S4 (released in 2013) and Galaxy Note 3 (released in 2013) as these smartphones aren’t compatible with Android 5.0.
To make sure your Android phone is running the very latest version of Android simply head to Go Settings > About Phone’ > Check for system updates.
WhatsApp is no stranger to killing off older operating systems. In fact, this update tends to happen almost every year.
The last big change took place on December 31, 2022 with the app ending supporting 49 different models of smartphones
These included the Archos 53 Platinum, Grand S Flex ZTE, HTC Desire 500, Huawei Ascend D, D1 and D2, Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Core, S2, S3 mini and many more.
In better WhatsApp news, the firm has announced that you’ll soon be able to have two WhatsApp accounts logged in at the same time.
The chat app says this will be particularly useful for people switching between accounts, such as work and personal – making it so that you no longer need to log out each time, carry two phones or worry about messaging from the wrong account.
This will be rolling out to Android users in the coming weeks.
