WhatsApp will not work on these devices from February .. Is your device between them? and what are you doing?

WhatsApp is one of the most popular chatting applications on smartphones and used by hundreds of millions around the world, but this application will stop working on a number of smartphones, including some iPhones, so what are those devices? What do you do if you have one?

The company WhatsApp completed the work of its application on some BlackBerry devices and Nokia in 2016, and in 2017 it stopped the work of the application on a limited number of Android, Windows and iPhone phones that run old versions of operating systems.

Last September, WhatsApp announced that it would stop supporting all Windows Phone devices by December 31, 2019, with a decision to permanently suspend support for some Android and iOS phones by February 1, 2020.

And within a few days, WhatsApp support will stop for devices running an older version than the Android OS 4.0.3, which was launched in 2011, which means all Android phones running version 2.3.7 and earlier, so only those devices over a decade old will be affected from time.

For iPhone users, the affected devices are those running version 8 of the "iOS" system introduced in 2014 or earlier.

The reason for stopping the support of those devices is that they will not provide the kind of capabilities that the company needs to expand the application's features in the future, according to what WhatsApp said when announcing the order.

Will WhatsApp stop working?
WhatsApp will not immediately stop working on the affected devices, but it will not receive any future updates, and the company will not develop any new versions for these phones, which ultimately means the end of service and the application to stop working.

Also, users of the app on those devices will not be able to create new accounts, or reconfirm existing accounts after February 1, 2020.

What do you do?
In the event that you are using one of those phones affected by the WhatsApp decision, it is advised to upgrade to the latest available version of your phone from the operating system before the deadline to stop support.

Although many Android phones affected by the WhatsApp resolution were issued before 2011, it can be upgraded to a newer version of the operating system and thus the possibility of continuing to use WhatsApp.

Apple launched the iOS 9 in 2015, which means that anyone with an iPhone 6s or later will be safe.

Here are the phones that were released before the release of "iOS 8" and the possibility to upgrade to version "9K", which continues to support WhatsApp:

IPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus: You can upgrade to iOS 9 to support WhatsApp.
IPhone 5 / iPhone 5s / iPhone 5c: You can upgrade to iOS 9 to support WhatsApp.
IPhone 4S: You can upgrade to iOS 9 to support WhatsApp.
IPhone 4 and earlier: You cannot upgrade to iOS 9, and you will lose WhatsApp support.

What if you can't update the operating system?
In the event that your phone does not support updating to a compatible version of WhatsApp from the operating system, you will have no choice but to buy a new phone and save your existing chats on WhatsApp.

To do so, head over to WhatsApp and open the chat you want to save, click on the three dots in the upper right of the screen, then click on "More" and choose "Export Chat".

In the next step, you can specify whether you want to export chat with all media or just export text messages, after which you will be directed to choose where you want to save chats (email, cloud storage ..).