WhatsApp for iPhone4 and Other Older Phones to Stop Working on Jan. 1

By Yehudit Garmaise

    If your phone has lasted a decade, and you use WhatsApp, you may want to upgrade by Friday.

   On Jan. 1, 2021, WhatsApp users use smartphones that were released in 2010 and 2011 will no longer will able to use the app properly because the Facebook-owned messaging platform has stopped using iOS 9, the operating software that Apple released in 2015.  

    In particular, owner of the iPhone 4 or older, owners of outdated Android handsets will be unable to use WhatsApp, starting Friday, and non-Apple users with older devices also will be affected if their devices still run Android 4.0.3.

   The last software update the iPhone 4 could receive was iOS 9, although later model iPhones will be able to upgrade to newer versions, such as iOS 14, which Apple released in September, 2020. 

   No iPhones that were released after the iPhone4 will be affected by WhatsApp’s new operating system. Only phones, such as the iPhone4, 3GS and earlier, that have the iOS9 or the Android 4.0.3 operating systems. will no longer be able to accommodates WhatsApp.

     Although fewer Android phones will be affected by WhatsApp’s change in operating system than iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy S2 also no longer will be able to use the messaging system.