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Which Smartphones WhatsApp Will Stop Working on 1st January 2021

There’s no doubt that WhatsApp has become the most popular messaging application around the globe, and more and more people are using it on daily basis. This instant messaging application works on most of the smartphone, however, over time, it brings many new features and changes, that many old-hardware powered smartphones won’t be able to handle, thus, this application won’t work on those. And from starting 1st January 2021, WhatsApp will not work on many smartphones. So, you should know if you won’t be able to use WhatsApp from 1st January 2021, and what you can do to save your data and alternative solutions.

Being used by most people, whether they are relatives, friends, colleagues, and many other people for communication purposes. Not only this app has helped people to communicate individually, it is severing great services to businesses as well. And now, just one day left, after which, millions of smartphones won’t be able to run the new WhatsApp application.

Why WhatsApp stopped working on my phone?

On Friday, January 1, WhatsApp will stop working on some smartphones – this event will affect both Android and iOS devices. If you stumbled upon this article after blocking and do not yet understand what the problem is, first of all, check the software version of your smartphone.

Why WhatsApp stopped working on my phone?
WhatsApp stops working on both Android and iOS.

This limitation will affect smartphones running Android with versions lower than 4.0.3, as well as iPhones with iOS versions lower than 9. Recall that the same thing happened last year when Facebook stopped supporting devices running iOS 8 and Android 2.3.7.

In order not to lose access to WhatsApp, you will either have to update your smartphone to a more current version of Android or, more likely, just buy a newer device. For iPhone owners, things are much easier – everyone knows that even older Apple phones take much longer to update than their Android competitors. However, there is a support limit for the iPhone. The milestone model, which can no longer be updated to iOS 9, will be the iPhone 4. This model and older ones will no longer work with WhatsApp.

If you have such devices and planned to upgrade them – now is the time.

What’s new in WhatsApp

Facebook-owned Whatsapp messenger is finally starting to roll out voice and video calling functionality to Whatsapp web apps and desktop beta apps. Android and iOS have had these features since 2015 and 2016, respectively. Since then, a lot has changed and WhatsApp has been used by over 2 billion users.

This made the messenger the leader among instant messaging applications with a market share of 44% (followed by Facebook Messenger with 35%). Considering that both of them are owned by Facebook, we can talk about an almost complete monopoly.

To use voice and video calls on your computer and in desktop applications, you still need to connect your smartphone to your computer. Earlier, there was information that desktop clients would work on their own, but this functionality was never implemented.

How to make WhatsApp calls on a computer

To make a voice or video call from the WhatsApp web app or WhatsApp desktop app, you need to open the name of the contact you want to call. Then you will see the video and normal call icons located in the upper right corner next to the search icon. To make a call, you just need to click the corresponding icon. After that, you will see a window with the name and photo of the contact, as well as with four buttons (video on / off, mute, menu, and hang up).

How to make WhatsApp calls on a computer
This is what the outgoing call window looks like.

If you receive a call, a pop-up window will appear with the contact’s photo and buttons to accept or reject the call. So far, the function has only been found by testers and there is no official information about it, but, apparently, it will not be long to wait for it.

And this is how the incoming call window looks like.
And this is how the incoming call window looks like.

This feature will definitely come in handy for many, and WhatsApp can replace some video conferencing systems. It is also interesting what additional functions the new version of WhatsApp will support. Most interesting is the possibility of using third-party microphones and cameras during a call.

You may have already been able to test such features. They became available to some users in a random mode. Their number is limited, but if you are one of them, tell us about it in the comments or in our Telegram chat.

The emergence of new features is always of interest and will continue to happen. Accordingly, smartphones will gradually become obsolete. That is, next year we can expect that support for Android 5 or even Android 6 and iOS 10 will end. But other users will receive a few more new features.

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