MESSAGING: Whatsapp has announced it will withdraw support for Windows Phones
WhatsApp has announced that it will soon withdraw support for all smartphones running any version of the Windows operating system. The messaging app will no longer work on handsets powered by Microsoft’s software in December 2019, it announced in a blog post update published yesterday.
‘ Because we will no longer actively develop for these platforms, some features may stop functioning at any time,’ WhatsApp wrote.
The Windows Phone operating system was launched in October 2010, but in January 2019 Microsoft announced that it would no longer support the software from December the same year, advising phone buyers to buy iOS or Android devices.
This means WhatsApp will support the relatively unpopular OS right up until its last dying breath.
Windows Phone never achieved the success of its rivals and didn’t encourage the same excitement from app developers. Nonetheless, there are bound to be thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people using WhatsApp on an old Windows device who will not be happy when it stops working.
WhatsApp will also withdraw support for Android versions 2.3.7 and older on February 1, 2020 and iPhone iOS 7 and older from the same date.
