WhatsApp Is Dropping Support for These Older iPhone Models
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If you’re using WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family using older iPhones, it might be time to convince them to upgrade.
According to WABetaInfo, the latest beta version of WhatsApp for the iPhone is preparing to drop support for operating systems older than iOS 15.1. That may sound like a dramatic cutoff, considering that the current version is good to go with iOS 12 or later, but it only excludes two iPhone generations.
That’s because no iPhones were left behind on iOS 13 or iOS 14. Everything that can run iOS 13 can be upgraded to iOS 15.8.3, a patch that came out only six months ago.
That includes the 2015 iPhone 6s and beyond. However, when iOS 13 came along, the 2013–2014 iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus models didn’t qualify for the update. Now, this also means they’ll soon be left out of WhatsApp messaging.
A new message in the WhatsApp beta advises users to update to “the latest version of iOS,” noting that it will stop supporting “this version” early next May.
Update to the latest version of iOS to continue using WhatsApp. WhatsApp will stop supporting this version of iOS after 5 May 2025. Please go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update to get the latest iOS version.
Notably, it looks like staying with a previous version won’t help either; according to WABetaInfo, this notification appears “even if they attempt to access it through a previous beta version on TestFlight.” This suggests that it’s a server-side restriction that will be applied retroactively, even for those running older versions of WhatsApp on their devices.
It’s unclear why WhatsApp is drawing the line at iOS 15.1 rather than iOS 15.0, but that shouldn’t impact most people as even if they’re using an iPhone that can’t be upgraded to iOS 16 — the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, or iPhone SE lineups — you should have moved well into the iOS 15 point releases by now. The 2017 models — the iPhone 8 and iPhone X — can run iOS 16, and everything newer than that can be updated all the way to the latest release of iOS 18.
To be fair, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were released in 2014, landed on Apple’s “Vintage” list two years ago, and are now considered “obsolete worldwide.” The iPhone 5s is even older.
Anyone using either model has been living on borrowed time for a while. In most cases, an app dropping support for ten-year-old iPhones wouldn’t be a big deal. However, WhatsApp is in a unique situation, since many folks may be using older iPhones solely for basic texting and calling, and WhatsApp is often an integral part of keeping in touch with loved ones.
That’s likely why Meta has kept WhatsApp compatible with iOS 12 for this long, but it needs to draw a line sooner or later, and it seems that time has come.
The company presumably feels that five months’ notice is adequate to give folks time to upgrade or find an alternative. However, if you have a family member using one of these iPhones just to stay in touch, the holiday season might be a good time to offer them an upgrade.
The move should affect fewer than 10% of iPhone users, as Apple notes that only 9% of active iPhones are running a version earlier than iOS 16. However, that includes the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, and first-gen iPhone SE, all of which can run iOS 15 and will still support WhatsApp. Apple no longer includes pre-iOS 15 stats, but at this time last year it noted that 6% of all iPhones hadn’t been updated to at least iOS 15. Still, with nearly a billion-and-a-half active iPhones and two billion WhatsApp users, the move will likely affect millions of people.
