Messaging app will stop working on older phones by end of 2016

WhatsApp has announced that it will no longer support phones with older operating systems by the end of the year.

The messaging app, which is used by over a billion people around the world, made the announcement in a blog post, as it celebrated its seventh anniversary. The post read: 'As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.'

Thanks to the dominance of the Android and iOS operating systems as well as the rate at which big smartphone companies like Apple, Samsung and HTC have put out new devices, millions of phones will no longer be able to run the app.

From the end of the year, phones running on Android 2.1, Android 2.2, Windows Phone 7, Apple iOS6 as well as the iPhone 3GS will be phased out by the app.

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Starting from June 30, 2017, in the second leg of the purge, phones on the Blackberry OS, Blackberry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 will no longer be able to run the app.

If you use any of these phones, it might be time to add something to your Christmas wish list.