With over two billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is the most widely used messenger service in the world. The Facebook-owned app is even more popular than the Messenger service, and is used in more countries and on a wide range of devices - including very old, outdated versions of Android.

Unfortunately for some of these old Android users, WhatsApp will stop supporting the messaging app on older phones starting in November.

While WhatsApp does support a wide variety of devices, the company does occasionally increase the minimum version of Android, which was previously at Android 4.0 (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich).

The company has now updated its website to say that it will only support devices running Android 4.1 when November comes as spotted by feature leaker WABetaInfo. After this date, users on these older devices will no longer receive updates to WhatsApp on their smartphones.

What did WhatsApp say?

On the official WhatsApp support page, the company has stated that it currently provides support for Android 4.1 and newer, which means that smartphones released after 2013 should be able to use WhatsApp for the foreseeable future.

However, those who have older smartphones will not be able to get updates beyond that date. WhatsApp is not the only developer to do so - several developers are dropping support for older versions of Android, as supporting several versions can make the app heavy and hamper optimisation.

What can users do if they have an older Android phone?

Chances are that you have gotten a new smartphone that has received at least an update or two over the past few years, thus you do not need to worry about WhatsApp dropping support for older devices.

However, if you have a very old, outdated smartphone like the LG Optimus L3, Samsung Galaxy SII, the Galaxy Core, the ZTE Grand S Flex and Huawei Ascend G740, you will not be able to receive updates.

“WhatsApp will no longer support Android phones running OS 4.0.4 and older on November 1, 2021. Please switch to a supported device or save your chat history before then,” the company says.

 - TNS