In March 2016, Facebook hinted plans to end support for WhatsApp after it announced end of support for Blackberry OS. On January 14 support for Windows phone ended and on 15 January 2020, WhatsApp stopped working on phones running on the Windows mobile operating system.
Users of Windows phone are being encouraged to switch to a supported phone so that they can access WhatsApp again.
WhatsApp for Windows Phone ought to have stopped working on January 1st, but the company extended support by two weeks after Microsoft decided to support Windows 10 Mobile till January 14.
From January 15 2020, users of devices running Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 10 Mobile or older will no longer be able to use the app.
Launching WhatsApp on a Windows Phone now reveals end of support warning and users cannot view existing conversations nor create a new account with WhatsApp for Windows Phone. Furthermore, Facebook also pulled WhatsApp Windows Phone app from the Microsoft Store last week.
In addition to Windows phones, WhatsApp is also planning to end support for Android Gingerbread-powered device on February 1st, 2020. WhatsApp says Android users must have Android 4.0 or newer to use the messaging app.
WhatsApp is not the only popular app that is leaving Windows Phone, other Facebook apps including Facebook and Instagram have also stopped working on Windows phones.
