Millions of Android users could lose access to WhatsApp

Your Android may no longer support WhatsApp in a few short months.

The eagle-eyed team at WABetaInfo has spotted that the Meta-owned chat app will stop working on Android devices running versions 5.0 and 5.1 starting on September 8. That means if your smartphone is about a decade old and hasn’t had a software update in years, you could wake up one day to find the messaging app simply won’t open anymore.

While Android 5.0 accounts for less than one per cent of global users, that still translates to roughly 3 million devices worldwide that will lose access to the popular messaging service.

While the Android ecosystem is moving towards version 17 of its operating system, plenty of people still rely on handsets stuck on much older software.

According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has already started sending alerts to people using these older devices. When you open the app, you’ll see a message warning that the service won’t be available on your phone later this year.

It’s been spotted that WhatsApp will stop working on Android devices running versions 5.0 and 5.1 starting on September 8

WABETAINFO

If your mobile device runs Android 5.1 or earlier, you may want to save your conversations before the cutoff date, as they will disappear afterwards. You can back up your chat history directly to Google Drive through the app’s settings, which means all your messages and photos will be waiting for you on a new device.

To manually back up your chats, follow these steps:

Tap Settings
Tap Chats Chat backup
Tap Back up

You can back up your WhatsApp chat history directly to Google Drive through the app’s settings

PEXELS

You can also set up recurring backups so your messages are constantly being saved in the background:

Tap Settings Chats.
Tap Chat backup Back up to your Google Account.
Select a backup schedule other than Never or Only when I tap “Back up”.
Select the Google Account you’d like to back up your chats to.
- If you don’t have a Google Account connected, tap Add account when…

Source