WhatsApp has announced that it will stop functioning on a range of Android and iPhone devices from the 1st of February 2020. Affected users will no longer be able to use their existing accounts, and will lose their chats if they do not export their chat history before the deadline. All users utilising devices running Android version 2.3.7 and older, as well as iOS 8 and older, will be affected, and these users are already being restricted from creating new WhatsApp accounts or re-verifying their existing accounts, but they are allowed to use it till next month. After the deadline, these users will no longer be able to use WhatsApp at all.
As mentioned, WhatsApp has confirmed that Android version 2.3.7 and older will not be supported after the 1st of February. iPhone users on versions iOS 8 and older will not be supported either. All these device owners must update their smartphones to newer versions, get a new smartphone, or export their chats to avoid losing all their conversations.
To save your chats, head to WhatsApp, open the chat you wish to export and tap on the ‘three dots’ on the top right of the chat screen. Tap on More > Export Chat > and select whether you want to include media or not. Once you select the appropriate option, select the platform you want to save your chats to. You can choose to send it to your email account, where you can keep those saved chats to come back to later.
