WhatsApp Ends Support For Android KitKat

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app as it makes communication easy and universal internationally. Because of its worldwide reach, it’s essential that the app is available to as many people as possible across different operating systems and OS versions. However, the fact is that all localities are not able to use Android 14 due to the technological resources available to them. There are many people who are stuck with Android versions such as Android 4.4, known as Android KitKat. According to the latest reports, WhatsApp has dropped support for KitKat with its newest app version for Android.

WhatsApp Says Goodbye to Android KitKat

The messaging platform finally took off its KitKat chains to end support in its latest version for Android. According to WABetaInfo, it’s the only mobile operating system compatibility change happening at the moment. The fact is that the number of people who are still using Android 4.4 and rely on WhatsApp to function every day is probably quite small. That’s why cutting some extra overhead maintenance out of WhatsApp’s way to better the product for current operating systems, probably seems fine.

Starting today, WhatsApp only supports Android OS 5.0 and newer versions, while there are no changes regarding supported iOS versions.

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) October 24, 2023

WhatsApp is not the first app to end its support for KitKat. Dropbox ended its support for the OS over three years ago. Before that, Android Messages/Messages by Google dropped its support for the old version in 2018. The messaging platform has been updating a lot with its public releases for Android in recent weeks.

The biggest stable release update has made multi-account switching available. It will now be very easy for you to use more than one WhatsApp account on one installation of the app instead of having multiple apps on your device. If you use two different WhatsApp accounts, then don’t worry. Soon you’ll be able to access both from just one device. No doubt, this feature will make it easier to manage conversations across multiple accounts. For instance, if you have one WhatsApp account for work and another for messaging friends and family members, it will become quite easier to switch between them. Reports claim that this feature will be rolling out in the coming weeks. In beta, voice messages and stickers are also under testing. There is an extra security feature coming in the form of hiding locked chats as well.