WhatsApp Will End Support for Blackberry and Windows Phone in the New Year

According to an official announcement on the WhatsApp website, the messaging app will stop supporting devices running Blackberry OS, Blackberry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 or earlier starting January 1, 2018. A dedicated page on the site warns users about these upcoming changes.

After January 1, users of these devices will no longer be able to create new accounts or re-verify existing ones. While the app may continue to function, its proper operation is no longer guaranteed. The developers caution that some features may stop working on these platforms at any time.

What Should Affected Users Do?

To continue using WhatsApp without issues, users are advised to upgrade to a device running one of the following operating systems:

• Android 4.0 or newer
• Windows Phone 8.1 or newer
• iOS 7 or newer

It’s worth noting that WhatsApp will still support devices running Android 2.3.7 (until 2020) and Nokia S40 (until the end of 2018). However, the developers state that older Blackberry and Windows Phone devices lack certain “capabilities” required for future versions of the app to work properly.

No Surprise for Blackberry Users

This news is unlikely to surprise users of older Blackberry devices that do not run Android, as WhatsApp support for these gadgets had already been extended once earlier this year.