WhatsApp is apparently planning a clean-up campaign and will be removing support for older iPhones this year. If you don’t want to or can’t update your system, you’ll probably have to do without Messenger from autumn.
Although Apple usually offers updates for its iPhones over a very long period of time, there are some devices that do not run the current iOS. Either because the iPhones are so old that they have fallen out of delivery, or because users don’t want to update their system or have forgotten to do so. Exactly these users could have problems in the future if they want to use WhatsApp on their iPhone. Because the messenger adjusts its minimum requirement.
WhatsApp adjusts minimum requirements for iPhones
Currently, at least iOS 10 must be running on an iPhone so that WhatsApp can be installed. But that will change from October 24, 2022. Then iOS 12 will be the minimum requirement for the messenger. All users who have not installed this or a higher iOS version on their iPhone can no longer use WhatsApp. WABetaInfo provides information about this, but so does the messenger itself.
The official WhatsApp FAQ page states in detail:
We currently provide support and recommend using the following devices:
- Android with iOS 4.1 and newer
- iPhone with iOS 12 and newer
- KaiOS 2.5.0 and newer, including JioPhone and JioPhone 2
WhatsApp itself does not name the specific date for the changeover, but during the research WABetaInfo came across a warning message that states October 24th as the time for the changeover.
Also Read: The Hidden Chat Feature on iPhone
These iPhones are affected
On the whole, however, the changeover to WhatsApp should only affect relatively few iPhone users. Most of them will run their device with the latest iOS. Only for the iPhone 5 does Apple no longer offer an update to iOS 12, which means it is no longer supported by WhatsApp. However, Apple introduced the iPhone 5 back in September 2012, so it’s been on the market for almost 10 years. The latest operating system for this model is currently iOS 10.3.4. In view of the lack of security patches, it is therefore advisable to exchange the iPhone 5 for a more up-to-date model.
Anyone who buys a new iPhone as a result of the change can easily transfer their WhatsApp chats to the new device. In the video we explain how this works: