WhatsApp on Windows Phone (and by extension Windows 10 Mobile) will be shuttered on 31st December. Heading into 2020, those who have remained loyal to Microsoft’s mobile platform will lose a major service. Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced in May it will “turn off support for Windows Phone on December 31, 2019.” This has been inevitable as the company has not been supporting the app for some time. That means WhatsApp on Windows Phone has not been receiving updates and is not visible in the Microsoft Store. However, users with the app already installed have been able to continue using it. That will change on New Year’s Eve and the WhatsApp app on Windows Phone will become useless. For users still on Microsoft’s platform who use WhatsApp regularly, this may tip them towards finally leaving Windows mobile. According to WhatsApp, the shuttering coincides with a wider shut down of legacy services. Joining the Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile cull are the following platforms:
Android versions 2.3.7 and older after February 1, 2020 iPhone iOS 7 and older after February 1, 2020
New Mobile Era
In October, Microsoft signaled its intentions to embark on a new era in the mobile space. With the Surface Duo smartphone, the company will release a new hardware product in the mobile arena for the first time in nearly five years. However, the Surface Duo will not be based on Windows will instead be running Google’s Android platform.
