The alarm bells rang that the WhatsApp raises its minimum requirements on Android. To use the WhatsApp one will need to have Android Lollipop at least.

The minimum version required to use WhatsApp is Android Jelly Bean 4.1, but this will change from the next October 24, 2023. From that day on, the app will not work on either Jelly Bean or KitKat.

Android is advancing and maintaining support for old versions requires extra effort and extra size for the application that is not always worth it. For Meta, the time has come to say goodbye to KitKat support on WhatsApp.

It’s been almost two years since WhatsApp last raised its minimum requirements. It was in November 2021 when the app stopped working on Android 4.0.4 and Android 4.1 became the minimum version. In a few months, the minimum version goes up two points to be Android Lollipop. This is indicated by WhatsApp in its support page: Starting October 24, only devices running Android OS 5.0 and higher will be supported.

That is to say, those phones with Android 4.1 or Android 4.4 are left out to continue using WhatsApp. According to the latest Android version distribution data, these represent less than 1% of all active devices.

The latest WhatsApp betas told us that it was necessary to have Android Lollipop 5.0 to install them and since then the same requirement has been included in some stable version, such as version 2.23.9.5. Other later versions are still backwards compatible, and that is support will continue until October 24.

After this day, the app will not let us continue, showing us a notice that “WhatsApp no longer works on this phone”. The only way to continue using the application will be either by updating to a later version of Android (which will be quite difficult, unless we opt for a ROM) or by getting a new mobile with a more modern version of Android.

If you’re still using Android 4.1 or Android 4.4 (if you’re not sure which version it’s easy to check), you have until October 24 to take action. Telegram, for now, is still compatible with Android 4.4.–gearrice.com