WhatsApp has dropped support for Apple’s iOS 9 mobile operating system, cutting off users of older iPhones which are not capable of running more recent software.<\/p>\n
This is according to a recent update<\/strong><\/a> on the app’s official FAQ page, which now states only iPhones running iOS 10 and newer are supported on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n The update comes days after WABetaInfo reported<\/strong><\/a> that the WhatsApp beta app for iOS had dropped support for iPhones running iOS 9.<\/p>\n iPhone users running iOS 9 or older should upgrade in order to use the latest version of WhatsApp for iOS – 2.21.50.<\/p>\n However, iPhone 4S owners will no longer be able to access WhatsApp on mobile at all, as the oldest iPhone capable of updating to this operating system is the iPhone 5.<\/p>\n It’s unlikely that this change will have a big impact on the overall iPhone user base, seeing as the iPhone 4S is now more than nine years old.<\/p>\n According to data from Device Atlas<\/strong><\/a>, 18 iPhone models accounted for 99.5% of the iPhones in use. The iPhone 4S is not included among these, which means it forms part of the remaining 0.5%.<\/p>\n It should be noted that this was even before the iPhone 12 was launched, which would likely have resulted in further phase-outs of older models.<\/p>\n WhatsApp normally communicates well in advance when it plans to discontinue support for certain operating systems.<\/p>\n In early 2020, it dropped compatibility with iOS 7 and older, as well as Android versions 2.3.7 and older.<\/p>\n However, this was only after it had notified users about the change all the way back in June 2019.<\/p>\n While reports in recent months have claimed that it planned to shed iOS 9 support in January 2021, these were rubbished as “fake news” by several publications, including WABetaInfo.<\/p>\n The plans now indeed appear to have been in the works, albeit for a slightly later date than originally reported.<\/p>\n For those users who still happen to use WhatsApp on an iPhone 4S, 9to5Mac has recommended<\/strong><\/a> that they export their chats before the app stops working completely.<\/p>\n It should be noted that WhatsApp’s supported Android and KaiOS versions have remained the same.<\/p>\n WhatsApp has dropped support for Apple’s iOS 9 mobile operating system, cutting off users of older iPhones which are not capable of running more recent software.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":382404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[691,2594],"class_list":["post-389954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software","tag-ios","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Previous instances<\/h3>\n
Now read: New Apple iOS beta launched \u2013 The big changes<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"