Even if you’re an iPhone user, you’ve probably used WhatsApp at least once in your life. Sure, you can use the Messages app and iMessage to talk to friends and family who own iPhones, but WhatsApp is the most popular alternative for the rest of the world.
That’s why WhatsApp has over 2 billion active users, and that includes people with older, somewhat outdated iPhones.
Unfortunately, it seems that Meta, previously known as Facebook, will drop support for older iPhones near the end of this year. To be more specific, the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C won’t be able to use WhatsApp.
The report comes from WABetaInfo, a website that mostly focuses on sharing real-time updates and leaks about WhatsApp. The website shared a new report that says WhatsApp will no longer support iOS 10 and iOS 11 starting on October 24, 2022.
Unfortunately, for iPhone 5 users, this rumor seems to be correct. Previously, we had heard rumors about WhatsApp ditching iOS 10 support, but that turned out to be a lie.
This time, however, even if WhatsApp or Meta haven’t made an announcement yet, the app has already changed its official list of supported operating systems on the WhatsApp Help Center website. According to the website, WhatsApp provides support for and recommends using devices running Android with OS 4.1 and newer and iPhones running iOS 12 and newer.
So, even if your older iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, or any other device running iOS 10 or 11 still supports WhatsApp, that’s highly likely to change on October 24.
What You Need to Do
Let’s face it; if you’re rocking such an older iPhone, you’re probably used to apps dropping support for your device. Still, there’s the possibility that someone like your parents or grandparents is using an older device, so it would be best to let them know ASAP.
If you or someone you know is using an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6S, they’ll still be able to update their device to at least iOS 12. Apple still supports the iPhone 6S with the latest iOS software updates—albeit that might change by the end of this year—so you should be able to install iOS 15 without any problems.
On the other hand, if you or someone you know has an older iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C, the only available solution is to buy a new iPhone.
If you don’t want to spend that much money, we’d recommend getting an iPhone 7. You surely can find one for a very low price, and it’s guaranteed to have support for the latest software updates for at least a year or two.
But then again, if you’re still rocking the iPhone 5S or 5C, you clearly don’t care that much about software updates at this point. If that’s your case, you’d be in better shape with an iPhone 6S.