Many old mobile phone users will not be able to run the Whatsapp application due to the updates carried out by the management of the most downloaded application in the world.
In a report published by "Le Temps" Swiss newspaper, writer Anoush Sedtagia says that the new update, which was approved by the WhatsApp administration beginning this month, will affect millions of users worldwide.
The number of WhatsApp users around the world is about 2.2 billion, and it is the most downloaded application on mobile phones in the world. However, WhatsApp decided to disable its services on a number of old phones.
The first phase of the modernization process was in January 2019, when the service available on Facebook was canceled for about 20 types of Nokia phones.
In early 2020, the application was no longer available on some old iPhones running the seventh version of the "iOS" system (IOS), and these changes included the iPhone 4, smartphones running Android 2.3.7 and earlier versions.
New services
With the beginning of this January, WhatsApp service was disrupted in a new group of smartphones, including old iPhones: 4S (4s), 5s (5s) and 6s (6s), and the WhatsApp application retrieval requires the installation of the ninth version of the iOS operating system.
As for Android phones, version 4.0.3 is the minimum necessary to use the app.
Samsung Galaxy S or Xperia Pro users are required to update the Android operating system with the latest version to restore WhatsApp.
It is clear - according to the author - that the WhatsApp administration has started adopting this strategy on a regular basis, and it is expected to continue over the next few years for many reasons, the most prominent of which is that WhatsApp has become providing a number of financial services, and it may soon start displaying ads, and it is not possible to provide such Services on old phones.
This WhatsApp strategy is expected to continue over the next few years (Getty Images)
Fears of breaches
When Apple or Google stops providing more updates to outdated operating systems, phones become less secure and more vulnerable to cyber attacks and piracy, which affects users and applications alike.
So apps choose to take such steps that ultimately force users to buy new phones.
According to estimates, between 0.5% and 1% of WhatsApp users - that is, between 10 and 20 million users - could be affected by the new requirements.
Whose responsibility?
The writer confirms that Apple bears some responsibility for this problem, which will deprive a number of users of its old devices from using the WhatsApp application.
Apple has stopped updating version 9.3.6 of the operating system, "iOS" since July 2019, and the data indicates that it has not provided any new update between 2016 and 2019.
Many smartphone manufacturers have also decided not to provide updates to their versions that run Google Android.