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WhatsApp support ends for iPhone 4S

Updated: Mar 18, 2021, 4:53 AM

Doroteya Borisova

If you're one of the last few stubborn bunch still holding on to their iPhone 4S, a member of the dwindling 8% iPhone owners using iOS 12 or earlier, and you also use WhatsApp—today might not be a good day for you.

On Monday, the ultra-popular video and chat messaging app across the world announced it was halting support for iOS 9. The iPhone 4S happens to be the last remaining iPhone which cannot go higher than iOS 9, which means that as of today, its owners are unprotected from attacks on WhatsApp, and very soon, the app will become unusable. If this is relevant to you, it might be a good idea to download your important conversations somewhere before that happens.

iOS 9 was released back in 2015 along with the iPhone 6S (which still supports iOS 14, by the way). The iPhone 4S itself was actually discontinued the year before that, in September 2014. It's been a solid 7 years since the phone no longer sold in stores, and it's estimated to be worth a measly 30$ these days. With Americans upgrading smartphones on a much more regular basis, it is somewhat understandable that it is no longer worth WhatsApp's time to support a dead version of an operating system, and the change isn't likely to affect many people at all.