Facebook-owned WhatsApp has managed to gather a user base of over a billion active users a number bigger than any other service of its kind.
The chat messenger is widely spread over a number of platforms and supports relatively older phones.Diversity and the support for older operating systems have been cited as some of the secrets behind the popularity of the instant messaging giant.
WhatsApp has versions on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Nokia among other operating systems. To effectively deliver new features, the company announced that it would stop support for Nokia and BlackBerry powered devices plus some older versions of Android, Windows Phone and iOS by the end of 2016. However, the deadline has been extended to 30th June 2017 according to a recent announcement.
When that time reaches the service will not be available on: Nokia Symbian S40 and S60, BlackBerry including BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 7, Android 2.2 and below, and iPhone iOS 6. WhatsApp is currently rolling out some features that it claims some of these operating systems do not support. In addition, the company wants to concentrate on the three most active platforms Android, iOS and Windows Phone. By so doing the service can give its users the most effective communication platform with a lot of features to enjoy.
Subscribers on older versions of Android, iOS and Windows Phone can still receive updates and new features from the messaging mogul by updating their devices to higher and supported operating systems after the 2017 deadline. Android owners should make sure their devices are running on Android 2.3+, iPhone owners should have iOS 7+ installed and finally Windows Phone must be running on Windows 8 or higher to support the app.
Though the deadline is still couple of months away, users on these devices do not necessarily have to wait until WhatsApp stops running to upgrade their devices. Upgrading your smartphone can be done anytime thereafter you can proceed to download app from the respective stores.However, you risk losing your data in the process. Currently, the messenger does not save conversation history across platforms but there is a way to do that. Before you start updating your device use Email feature to save the chats as an attachment in your mail.
WhatsApp offers classic features efficiently that no user should miss out. Some of the intriguing functions offered by the Facebook App include:
End-to-end Encryption
People value privacy and that is what WhatsApp offers you at best level. Anything shared across the platform is encrypted automatically, users do not need to turn the feature on.Neither WhatsApp nor any third party can decode users’ messages.
Video calling
WhatsApp,early this week, released a feature its users have been asking for most: video calling. The loved call technology addition means WhatsApp enters direct competition with the likes of Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Google Duo/Hangouts. From now henceforth users will get all they need from within the app as far as calling is concerned, no need to have many messaging apps installedon your device.
Document sharing
To add to the normal ability to share text messages, images and videos, WhatsApp now enables document sharing. Now you can share PDFs, docs etc. across the chat service. The app has also added support for GIFs.
These are just but a few functions you get from the American service. In respect to the advantages, users on phones whose support will be stopped in 2017 should purchase supported devices as well as those on older OS should also upgrade their operating systems.