WhatsApp has today officially announced that they no longer support iPhone 6 Plus and devices with older versions of iOS, thus constraining access for many users. Meta-owned messaging platform recently stated that the company would stop supporting devices with iOS 12 or older from December of the year 2023.

Why the Change?

This step is an addition to frequent updates to maintain security measures as well as integrate new features into the application, Prosecutor. The company justified that providing support to applications on the older OS is unsustainable, given the introduction of newer features that require a better OS to run.

In the words of WhatsApp, these updates respectively facilitate and secure a working environment to which the previous iOS versions cannot conform.

Who Is Affected?

WhatsApp will stop providing services to iPhone users whose devices operate under iOS 12 or older versions. This includes messaging, calling, and updating the application. Of these, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 series are the most affected.

For users to remain using WhatsApp, they need to upgrade their device to iOS version 13 or the latest. If such an increase in frequency cannot be possible, then the concerned users will be required to look for better messaging services.

Meta’s Focus on Innovation

Hence, Meta has been keen on its plan of achieving the addition of diverse features to WhatsApp. Recent features, for instance, improved privacy settings, logging in on multiple devices, and improved and enhanced media sharing, are features that require modern operating systems to run smoothly.

In this way, WhatsApp can invest in the creation of such novelties without endangering its users’ security by ceasing support for outdated devices.