A year passed and things change. When technology needs to evolve, it somehow needs to leave some things behind. The case goes the same for WhatsApp. The popular messaging app is ceasing support on some older mobile operating system.
WhatsApp announced to end its support for some operating system last December 2016. In its blog post, WhatsApp announced its plans to end support for BlackBerry OS and Blackberry 10, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, Android 2.2, Windows Phone 7, and iPhone 3GS/iOS 6 by the end of 2016.
Due to the company's decision to focus on more widely used mobile platform, WhatsApp cited the reasons behind why it eliminate some of the less popular platforms. And one of the most prominent reason is to give them the advantage in developing and expanding its features.
"These platforms don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future," said WhatsApp. Furthermore, many phone companies prevent users with older models from updating to the latest operating systems, rendering their devices increasingly less useful.
What this means, users that own mobile devices that use those operating system may not be able to enjoy the features that WhatsApp used to offer, as well as not getting support on updates and security.
However, WhatsApp is aware of the inconvenience the decision might have caused to some of its users. WhatsApp updated its report, saying that it will extend the app support for specific BlackBerry and Nokia users until mid-2017.
"When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people's use of mobile devices looked very different from today." As time passes, the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging application has become one of the most popular mobile applications in the market.
Founded by Jan Koum, WhatsApp reached 1 billion users in February 2016, and handles more than 64 billion messages a day.
The rise of WhatsApp's popularity was due to its cross-platform capability. With its simplicity that focuses on its sole messaging purpose; attributed to the cheaper service provided by the app as compared to normal text messaging rates and more internet coverage around the world, the app quickly surpassed older rivals in the market.
The app also handles multimedia such as photos, videos, and music making it a practical choice for mobile users. It also boasts of features that other apps are capable of like video calling, which WhatsApp has rolled out on November 2016.
By ceasing support on older models, WhatsApp aims forward to the future. While the number of older devices are decreasing, they still account to millions of devices. This is a risk WhatsApp has to take to fulfill its decision.