Earlier this year, WhatsApp announced the end of its support for a range of older platforms, and older versions of existing operating systems. Among those facing the chop "by the end of 2016" were many BlackBerry and Nokia devices.
But the company has now had a change of heart, announcing that it"s extending support for BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia Series 40 and Symbian Series 60 until June 30, 2017.
It"s not clear what prompted the decision to continue supporting these platforms beyond the end of this year, as the company had previously advised owners of those devices to upgrade to newer ones in order to continue using its app.
However, WhatsApp isn"t being so generous when it comes to the other platforms facing the chop. Devices running Windows Phone 7.x and Android 2.1 Eclair/2.2 Froyo, as well as the iPhone 3GS/iOS 6, will still lose WhatsApp support at the end of this month. In February, the company explained that "while these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don"t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app"s features in the future."
Of course, that same explanation also applied to the other platforms on its kill-list - so while Nokia and BlackBerry devices will now get an extra six months of service, it seems unlikely that WhatsApp will extend its support for those operating systems again.
Source: WhatsApp via The Independent