WhatsApp Discontinues Updates for Smartphones Running on Android KitKat c2h4f All You Need to Know

According to recent usage statistics, around 0.5 percent of all s with Android smartphones are running on Android 4.4, also known as KitKat. 4t2si

Written by David Delima | Updated: 26 October 2023 14:50 IST

WhatsApp Discontinues Updates for Smartphones Running on Android KitKat: All You Need to Know

Photo Credit: WhatsApp 2c6j4i

WhatsApp s running on Android 4.4 won't have access to new features

Highlights

WhatsApp currently s smartphones running on Android 5.0
Smartphones running on Android 4.4 — released in 2013 — aren't ed
WhatsApp s with older phones will need to update to a newer version

ment

WhatsApp has finally dropped for smartphones running on an outdated version of Android, months after Google rendered these older handsets obsolete. Earlier this week, the Meta-owned messaging platform discontinued further updates to s with smartphones on Android 4.4, more commonly known as Android KitKat. Based on recent statistics, a small number of s are still running on Android KitKat, and these s will have to update their software or switch to a newer handset in order to continue using the service.

Feature tracker WABetaInfo on Tuesday reported that WhatsApp has increased its minimum requirements to smartphones running on Android 5.0 (also known as Lollipop) or newer. Android KitKat was released in September 2013, which means that s with smartphones running on this operating system have had access to WhatsApp for nearly a decade.

According to recent statistics shared by Google (via Mishaal Rahman), the percentage of s running on Android 4.4 was between 0.5 percent and 0.7 percent in May 2023, when the most up-to-date figures were published.

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Now that WhatsApp has dropped for Android 4.4, s with smartphones running on this outdated version will have to update their smartphones to Android 5.0, if a software update is available from the manufacturer. If an update to a newer Android version is not available, s will have to switch to a more modern smartphone.

Without Android 5.0 — now the lowest version currently ed by WhatsApp — s will no longer receive updates on their smartphone. This means that new features like multi- feature (with for switching between numbers) are likely to remain unavailable to these s, unless they switch to a ed Android smartphone.

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Further reading: WhatsApp minimum requirements

David Delima

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As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be ed via email at [email protected], on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More