Today we have great news for BlackBerry and Nokia users. The owners of our beloved instant messaging app have in fact decided to extend the support for BlackBerry 10 and Nokia platforms until June 2017.
This decision partially changes the one communicated at the beginning of the year, when WhatsApp has informed its users that by the end of 2016 certain operating systems, including Windows Phone 7.1 and Blackberry 10, will not be supported anymore. But this week the support page of the app has been updated and BlackBerry and Nokia users have been informed that “We will soon be ending support for certain devices. On June 30, 2017, we will no longer support the following platforms: BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40, and Nokia Symbian S60.”
If the news comes as a sort of relief for some users, for others the situation is unchanged, since the company has confirmed that the support for Android 2.1, Android 2.2 and Windows Phone 7 will be dropped by the end of 2016.
So, let’s recap for which platforms the support of WhatsApp has been prolonged:
- BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10
- Nokia S40
- Nokia Symbian S60
As we said above, unfortunately the following platforms will no longer be supported by WhatsApp starting from January 2017:
- Android 2.1 and Android 2.2
- Windows Phone 7
- iPhone 3GS/iOS 6
The Facebook-owned Company explained its decision with this words: “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 Android running OS 2.3+, a Windows Phone 8+, or an iPhone running iOS 7+ before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.” and adding that at the moment it is not possible to transfer users’ chat histories between platforms:
“Once you have one of these devices, simply install WhatsApp and verify your phone number on the new device to continue using WhatsApp. 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.”