WhatsApp might stop working on your smartphone after December 31.
WhatsApp might stop working on your smartphone after December 31. Yes, you read it right. Facebook-owned mobile messaging app WhatsApp will stop working on a number of platforms from December 31, the company has confirmed. The messaging app will drop support for ‘BlackBerry OS’, ‘BlackBerry 10’, ‘Windows Phone 8.0’ and older platforms, from December 31, 2017, according to media reports citing WhatsApp’s official confirmation. “We will no longer actively develop for these platforms, some features may stop functioning at any time,” WhatsApp said. “These platforms don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer OS version, or to a newer Android running OS 4.0+, iPhone running iOS 7+, or Windows Phone 8.1+ so that you can continue using WhatsApp,” the company added.
WhatsApp said that it will not work on ‘Nokia S40’ after December 2018. Also, the app will stop functioning correctly on Android OS version 2.3.7 and older, after February 1, 2020.
Meanwhile, an advocate on Tuesday sent a legal notice to mobile messaging app WhatsApp, asking it to remove the middle finger emoji within 15 days. Gurmeet Singh, who practises as a lawyer in Delhi courts, said showing the middle finger is not only illegal but an obscene and lewd gesture — an offence in India. In the notice, the advocate said: “…showing of middle finger is not only offensive but a highly belligerent, invasive, obscene, lewd gesture.” “As per the Indian Penal Code Sections 354 and 509, it is an offence to show obscene, lewd, offensive gestures to females. Use of a lewd, offensive, obscene gesture by anyone is hereby illegal also as aforesaid. As per section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994 showing of the middle finger is also an offence in Ireland,” Singh stated in his notice. “By offering to use middle finger emoji in your app, you (WhatsApp Inc) are directly abetting the use of offensive, lewd, obscene gesture,” the notice said. Emoji is a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion. Therefore, it is requested that the middle finger emoji or character or photo must be removed from WhatsApp within 15 days from the date of the present legal notice, it said, threatening to file civil or criminal cases if the app fails to remove it.
