WhatsApp to stop working on some devices by the end of 2016 – find out if your model is affected

 

WhatsApp has said that its messaging app will cease to work on older phones and operating systems as early as the end of this year.

The announcement comes after a warning earlier this year that the Facebook-owned company would be pulling support for older models, and that the deadline to upgrade was fast approaching.

The same blog post was then updated to say some phones would be supported until June 30, 2017, while the service would be discontinued on others by the end of this year.

The blog says: “When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people’s use of mobile devices looked very different from today. The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 per cent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia.

“As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.”

Those using certain handsets will have to buy new ones if they want to use the world’s most popular messaging app, which has a billion users globally.

“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future,” a spokesperson said. (Video calling was recently added to WhatsApp)

iPhone users

WhatsApp will stop working on iPhone 3GS at the end of this year.

It will also cease to function any iPhone running iOS 6, so any phone which hasn’t been updated to a later operating system will lose WhatsApp.

The change also affects first, second, third or fourth generation iPads that haven’t been updated.

Android users

WhatsApp will cease to function on any Android tablet or phone running Android 2.1 or 2.2.

This affects any phone released between 2010 and 2011 which hasn’t been updated.

Windows phone users

Anyone still using Windows Phone 7 will not be able to use WhatsApp anymore.

Blackberry and Nokia users

People who have these phones are safe until June 2017: BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60.

Source

WhatsApp Video Calling is now Official, Here’s how it works!

Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced yesterday that it had begun rolling out video calling to the more than one billion users it claims across iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms around the world.

According to TechCrunch, video calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted just like with FaceTime in order to prevent rogue parties from eavesdropping on your communications.

WhatsApp previously rolled out end-to-end encryption for chats. “We obviously try to be in tune with what our users want,” WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum told Reuters. “We’re obsessed with making sure that voice and video work well even on low-end phones.”

You can call a person you’re chatting with, provided each party has updated their copy of WhatsApp to the latest version, by tapping a new Call button in the top-right. A prompt goes up, asking if you’d like to place a voice or video call.

The in-call screen provides the controls to switch between phone cameras, mute and hang up the call. Video calls use iOS 10’s CallKit to integrate with Contacts and Phone’s Recents/Favorites. They also appear on the Lock screen like regular cellular phone calls. You can place video calls to WhatsApp contacts via Siri, too.

The thumbnail video shown during the call can be moved around and you can also flick a video call in progress to the side to minimize it while chatting. WhatsApp video calling is supported in 180 countries. Facebook has allowed WhatsApp to use its servers and bandwidth around the world for both voice and video.

Other cross-platform apps that support voice calling include Viber, Facebook Messenger, Skype and Google Duo, to name but a few. Of course, Apple’s FaceTime has supported end-to-end encrypted video calling since its inception, but Apple has failed to fulfill its original promise of open-sourcing FaceTime and making it an industry standard.

WhatsApp is also testing a two-factor authentication system in the latest beta, but it’s unclear when this security-enhancing feature might be ready for prime time. With two-factor authentication, a unique one-time code generated by a dedicated authenticator app is required before a new device can sign in to your account on the service.

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WhatsApp will start sharing your number on Facebook, here’s how to stop it!

 

Facebook-owned WhatsApp today updated its Terms and Privacy Policy for the first time in four years to reflect that the messaging service will start sharing select account data with Facebook in order to improve targeted advertising. Wait, does that mean that you’re going to be inundated with ads on WhatsApp? In a word, no—at least for the time being. As per the amended terms of service, “We still do not allow third-party banner ads on WhatsApp.”

Exiting WhatsApp users can opt out of Facebook data sharing in Settings → Account within 30 days of accepting the new Terms and Privacy Policy.

Don’t worry—your messages, photos and other media shared through WhatsApp won’t be automatically posted on Facebook for others to see.

“We won’t post or share your WhatsApp number with others, including on Facebook, and we still won’t sell, share, or give your phone number to advertisers,” reads the post.

Again, only account data is shared with Facebook, not your chats and media.

Data sharing is purely for the purpose of improving users’ Facebook ads and products experiences, the company ensures. It also lets it do things like track basic metrics about how often people use these services and better fight spam on WhatsApp.

After accepting data sharing, you’ll see better friend suggestions and more relevant ads on Facebook. “For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you’ve never heard of,” says the firm.

More information is available in this WhatsApp support document.

Thankfully, you can easily opt out, right when the prompt goes up, or within 30 days of accepting the new terms, here’s how.

Method #1

If you haven’t yet accepted the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy:

1) Launch WhatsApp and you’ll see the updated terms. Tap Read to continue.

2) Scroll the text until you see a check box at the bottom of the screen. If you do not want your WhatsApp account information shared with Facebook, untick the box.

3) Tap Agree.

Method #2

If you have already accepted the new terms, you will have an additional 30 days to opt out of data sharing by following these simple steps:

1) Launch WhatsApp and tap the Settings tab.

2) Now tap Account.

3) Untick the box labeled “Share my account info” or toggle the control.

Doing so will stop sharing your WhatsApp account information with Facebook for the purposes of improving ads and products experiences.

When you opt out, the Facebook family of companies will still receive and use this information for other purposes. And what other purposes might these be? According to the official support document, your WhatsApp information is still being used to:

• Improve infrastructure and delivery systems
• Understand how these services are being used
• Secure systems and fight spam, abuse or infringement activities

And that’s all there’s to it.

What if I agree to data sharing?

If you agree to data sharing, things like the mobile phone number your registered with WhatsApp and the last time you used the service will be used by Facebook to improve friend suggestions and make ads more relevant to you.

“Nothing you share on WhatsApp, including your messages, photos, and account information, will be shared onto Facebook or any of the Facebook family of apps for others to see,” ensures the firm.

Also, Facebook currently has no plans to start serving ads through WhatsApp.

Source

This is why you’re getting a strange message on Whatsapp

MESSAGING SERVICE WHATSAPP, which has over a billion users, has announced it has encrypted its service.
The service, which is owned by Facebook, is used to send billions of messages daily but some users had feared its lack of encryption made personal data vulnerable.

On the company’s blog today, founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum revealed that end-to-end encryption had been added to the service.

The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private – sort of like a face-to-face conversation.

A row about encryption has been raging in the US between Apple and the FBI and services like Telegram and Signal, which sell themselves on their encryption, have surged in popularity.

The encryption will be added to any group where at least one member has the newest version of the app and will kick in across operating platforms and devices.

Koum says that while the company respects the job done by law enforcement, the right to privacy was too important to ignore.

The desire to protect people’s private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp, and for me, it’s personal. I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn’t speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States.

“Today more than a billion people are using WhatsApp to stay in touch with their friends and family all over the world. And now, every single one of those people can talk freely and securely.”

WhatsApp adds bold, italic, and strikethrough text – and here’s how to do it

WhatsApp now allows users to add bold, italic, and strikethrough text to instant messages – and it’s really simple to do.

The function has come in the latest version of the app, and works on both iOS and Android – helping you say what you really mean when simple words and emojis just won’t cut it.

To add bold text to a WhatsApp message, simply add an asterisk to either of the end of the text, i.e. *bold text appears here*

For italics, add an underscore to each end of the text, i.e. _italic text appears here_

For strikethrough text, add a tilde to each end of the text, i.e. ~strikethrough text appears here~

Each format can also be combined, for example to send text that’s both bold and italicised, just *_add asterisks and underscores together_*

Make sure you update to the latest version of the app to see the new text formats on Android and iOS.