On 5 May WhatsApp will stop running on any iPhone with iOS 15.1 or older. For most iPhone owners that means nothing — a quick software update and the app carries on. For three models it means the end: the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cannot be updated past iOS 12, so they cannot reach the new minimum of iOS 15.2, and WhatsApp on them will simply stop.
Why WhatsApp keeps raising the floor
Every year the app adds features — encrypted backups, communities, HD media, passkeys — that lean on capabilities in newer versions of the operating system. Supporting the old versions means maintaining separate code and, more seriously, accepting security holes that Apple no longer patches. Apple stopped making the 5s, 6 and 6 Plus in 2016 and stopped issuing security updates for them years ago. WhatsApp’s own statement is that older devices “may lack the technology needed to run WhatsApp safely”, and on a phone whose operating system has known, unfixed vulnerabilities, that is not marketing.
Check your phone
- Open Settings → General → About and read the iOS Version line.
- If it says 15.2 or higher, you are fine. If it says 15.0 or 15.1, go to Settings → General → Software Update and install the latest version — an iPhone 6s or newer can reach iOS 15.8.
- If your phone is a 5s, 6 or 6 Plus, no update will help. The app will keep working until 5 May and then stop.
The Bangladesh angle
These three phones are still everywhere here: refurbished iPhone 6 units sold for Tk 8,000–10,000 on the second-hand stalls of Gulistan and Motijheel for years, often as a first iPhone for students. Anyone buying used now should treat the 6s as the oldest acceptable model — it runs iOS 15 and will keep WhatsApp for a while longer — and budget for the fact that it, too, will be cut eventually.
Keep your chats
Before the old phone goes, back up: WhatsApp → Settings → Chats → Chat Backup → Back Up Now (this needs iCloud space and Wi-Fi). Restore on the new iPhone by signing in with the same Apple ID and number and accepting the restore prompt. Moving to Android is possible through WhatsApp’s built-in transfer, but it needs both phones in hand and a cable, so do it before selling the old one, not after.
Source: Daily Mail, via Prothom Alo.
