The majority of mobile users in Oman may not have to worry about WhatsApp’s decision to phase out support for some platforms, but a small number of residents may find the need to upgrade to a newer handset soon.
Facebook-owned mobile messaging app WhatsApp will stop working on a number of platforms from December 31, the company has confirmed. The messaging app will drop support for ‘BlackBerry OS’, ‘BlackBerry 10’, ‘Windows Phone 8.0’ and older platforms, from December 31, 2017, according to an express.co.uk report published on Monday. BlackBerry has shifted to Android this year, but older handsets still use its own in-house software. “We will no longer actively develop for these platforms, some features may stop functioning at any time,” WhatsApp said. “These platforms don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.
If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer OS version, or to a newer Android running OS 4.0+, iPhone running iOS 7+, or Windows Phone 8.1+ so that you can continue using WhatsApp,” the company said. WhatsApp said that it will not work on ‘Nokia S40’ after December 2018. Also, the app will stop functioning correctly on Android OS version 2.3.7 and older, after February 1, 2020. The company said: “This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. “If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone.”
However, considering the market size of such phones in the Sultanate, it looks like the plan to disable WhatsApp on select devices won’t have any huge impact in the Sultanate.
