WhatsApp has lastly dropped assist for smartphones operating on an outdated model of Android, months after Google rendered these older handsets out of date. Earlier this week, the Meta-owned messaging platform discontinued additional updates to customers with smartphones on Android 4.4, extra generally often known as Android KitKat. Based on current statistics, a small variety of customers are nonetheless operating on Android KitKat, and these customers must replace their software program or change to a more recent handset with a view to proceed utilizing the service.
Feature tracker WABetaInfo on Tuesday reported that WhatsApp has elevated its minimal necessities to smartphones operating on Android 5.0 (often known as Lollipop) or newer. Android KitKat was launched in September 2013, which signifies that customers with smartphones operating on this working system have had entry to WhatsApp for almost a decade.
According to current statistics shared by Google (through Mishaal Rahman), the proportion of customers operating on Android 4.4 was between 0.5 % and 0.7 % in May 2023, when essentially the most up-to-date figures had been revealed.
Now that WhatsApp has dropped assist for Android 4.4, customers with smartphones operating on this outdated model must replace their smartphones to Android 5.0, if a software program replace is accessible from the producer. If an replace to a more recent Android model isn’t accessible, customers must change to a extra trendy smartphone.
Without Android 5.0 — now the bottom model at present supported by WhatsApp — customers will not obtain updates on their smartphone. This signifies that new options like assist for passkeys, a redesigned backside navigation bar, in addition to upcoming options just like the multi-account function (with assist for switching between numbers) are prone to stay unavailable to those customers, except they change to a supported Android smartphone.
