WhatsApp will not work on many devices and web browsers in 2021. The world’s most popular instant messaging application has announced the operating systems required to use the service, as well as the browsers for its service on computers in 2021.
In recent years, telecommunications have become one of the most important elements of our society. To be able to connect to any point on the planet in a matter of seconds, regardless of where we are, is basic for today’s world as we know it. But much more so now in the times of the covid-19 pandemic, in which teleworking is increasingly common to avoid contagion.
For that reason, WhatsApp is already a basic tool in society, both for leisure and for work. But, in these times, nothing is forever and, with technology, much less. The programmed obsolescence and the needs of companies to focus on the most current operating systems and devices to offer a more complete service makes that older technology work more and more slowly or, in the worst case, it stops working.
Thus, year after year, many applications no longer support certain operating systems and thus stop working instantly on certain devices and WhatsApp is no less. With only a few weeks to go before 2021, the instant messaging application has already announced which cell phones it will stop working on next year, so you will have to buy another device if you want to continue using the app.
Indeed, WhatsApp is not exactly a demanding application with the requirements of mobile devices, and therefore those that will stop working in 2021 are relatively old, with an average age of seven years. Or, to put it another way, for WhatsApp to continue working, it will be necessary to have an operating system equal to or higher than version 4.0.3 in Android, equal to or higher than version 9.0 in iOS or equal to or higher than KaiOS version 2.5.1 in Linux.
WhatsApp will not work on these devices in 2021
– Samsung Galaxy S2
– Motorola Droid Razr
– LG Optimus Black
– HTC Desire
– iPhone 4s
– iPhone 5
– iPhone 5c
– iPhone 5s
It is important to point out that it will not be a radical shutdown on January 1, 2021 at 00:01 am, but it will be something progressive. What WhatsApp is telling us is that it will stop supporting those phones, so any errors and security problems that are generated will not be solved, until there comes a time when it will stop working. But this year is different, as it will also affect our computers.
In recent weeks, WhatsApp has announced plans to include video calls in its WhatsApp Web service. For some years now, we have had this service on our mobile devices, although it is not available on our computers. But, precisely, confinement and teleworking, where these services are increasingly common, have led the company to decide to implement it … but will not be compatible with two browsers in particular.
In this way, WhatsApp Web will also progressively stop working in 2021 on Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer 11. The company’s idea is that this will happen next March 9th for Edge Legacy and August 17th for Explorer. A few weeks before the new year arrives, we already know on which devices WhatsApp will not work in 2021: if you have one of them, it is best to buy a new one if you want to continue using the application.
