Whatsapp: Some cell phone users will soon have to do without the messenger

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Android
Whatsapp off in November: Some smartphone users will soon have to do without the messenger

Many Android users are threatened with WhatsApp being shut down

© Rafael Henrique // Picture Alliance

Many smartphone users will have to do without the popular Whatsapp messenger service in a few days. Support is expiring for older Android phones. These models can therefore no longer use the app from now on.

Many Android users are threatened with the end of Whatsapp in just a few days: Support for many smartphones will expire on November 1st. This means that the person concerned can no longer use the popular messenger. The reason lies in possible security loopholes that the messenger can no longer close and thus make the programs more susceptible to hacker attacks.

communication

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Communication: Signal The Signal messenger is not only the alternative to WhatsApp for many customers - but also for one of the founders. Years after making billions selling Whatsapp, Brian Acton left Facebook, presumably fighting over the security of the messenger. Then he put millions in Signal. Privacy is very important there: the operator cannot read the chats, even the phone books uploaded to search for other users are encrypted beforehand and compared with one another in a form that cannot be used by the company (“hash”). The app is available for desktop, Android and iOS and is free of charge.

signal
The Messenger Signal is not only the alternative to WhatsApp for many customers – but also for one of the founders. Years after making billions selling Whatsapp, Brian Acton left Facebook, presumably fighting over the security of the messenger. Then he put millions in Signal. Privacy is very important there: the operator cannot read the chats, even the phone books uploaded to search for other users are encrypted beforehand and compared with one another in a form that cannot be used by the company (“hash”). The app is available for desktop, Android and iOS and is free of charge.

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Smartphones with a version older than Android 4.1 are affected

As has now become known, from November smartphones with a version older than Android 4.1 will no longer be supported. If you believe the statistics from Statista, however, only 0.04 percent of all Android devices are currently still using version 4.0 – so only very old cell phones are affected.

According to “chip.de”, WhatsApp users will no longer be able to create a new account with the said operating systems, and an existing WhatsApp account will no longer be able to be verified again. Whatsapp itself can then still receive messages, but these are no longer displayed on the device, according to the technology portal.


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Those affected can do that now

“chip.de” writes that a list of 43 smartphone models is currently circulating on the Internet on which WhatsApp is supposed to no longer run from November. But this is flawed. The models named there were delivered with older operating systems when they entered the market, but a system update to a still supported Android version would be available for many of these cell phones.

Anyone who is nevertheless affected should now check as soon as possible whether an update is available or look around for a new mobile phone with the latest operating system. This should not only be done because of WhatsApp: Older operating systems pose a general security risk. A corresponding list of unsupported systems can be found on the Support page from WhatsApp.

Sources:“chip.de”,Whatsapp

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