WhatsApp to End BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone Support on Dec. 31

WhatsApp has today announced that it will end support for BlackBerry OS, including BlackBerry 10, as well as Windows Phone 8.0 and older devices on December 31, 2017, VentureBeat is reporting. As a result, users will no longer be able to create new accounts or re-verify existing accounts on these devices.

Whatsapp

BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone devices that currently have WhatsApp installed and verified, will remain functional. However, WhatsApp warns that since it will no longer actively develop for these platforms, some features may stop functioning at any time.

For BlackBerry users, it is recommended that they switch to an Android-powered BlackBerry device to keep getting WhatsApp updates, whereas Windows Phone users can upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile devices, although it may be a good time for them to switch to Android or iOS.

The following advice has been offered by WhatsApp for owners of these unsupported devices:

These platforms don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer OS version, or to a newer Android running OS 4.0+, iPhone running iOS 7+, or Windows Phone 8.1+ so that you can continue using WhatsApp.

Once you have one of these devices, simply install WhatsApp and verify your phone number on the new device. Keep in mind that WhatsApp can only be activated with one phone number on one device at a time.

There is currently no option to transfer your chat history between platforms. However, we provide the option to send your chat history attached to an email.

WhatsApp has also said that support for the Nokia S40 will be dropped on December 31, 2018, whereas Android devices running version 2.3.7 and older will be supported until February 1, 2020.

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