Chats Stop In 24 Hours On These Phones
WhatsApp is ending support for a series of Apple and Android devices, beginning on Sunday, June 1. It had been thought the change would come early in June, but the respite is over. Here’s the list of iPhones affected and what it means.
Apple iPhones with older software are about to lose access to WhatsApp.
If you have an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, then first of all congratulations for holding out against the pressure to upgrade. But, secondly, commiserations, because your phone won’t work with WhatsApp any more.
That’s because you need to have an iPhone that runs iOS 15.1 and later, and those phones can’t handle software newer than iOS 14. If you want to continue to use WhatsApp, you’ll need a newer iPhone (or iPad, now it’s finally arrived on Apple’s tablets).
Android users are fine, providing your phone can run Android OS 5.0 and newer. The new software requirements have been announced by WhatsApp and the explanation is that “Devices and software change often, so we regularly review what operating systems we support and make updates. Every year we look at which devices and software are the oldest and have the fewest users. These devices also might not have the latest security updates, or might lack the functionality required to run WhatsApp,” it says.
To be fair to WhatsApp, support is only vanishing for iPhones that first went on sale more than 10 years ago, and which weren’t sold by Apple for the last six years.
And note the phrase “Every year,” which tells us that if you have any iPhone newer than that, you’re safe until next year at least.
As noted by 9to5Mac, it had been reported that other iPhones would also be struck off, namely iPhone 16s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE 1st generation. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case, providing, of course, you have updated the phone’s software to later than iOS 15.1. This shouldn’t be a problem as those phones are compatible with every version of iOS 15, including the recent iOS 15.8.1, a security update released a few weeks ago on March 31, 2025.