By: Sello Theletsane
Tech giants Facebook and Google have announced that certain cell phones and operating systems will not operate their offerings from the end of September onwards.
Due to privacy issues, Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube will soon be blocked on millions of older smartphones.
Any device operating Android 2.3 will be blocked from accessing the apps from September 27 onwards. According to Google, the removals come “as part of our going efforts to keep our users safe”.
“If you sign in to your device after September 27, you may get username or password errors when you try to use Google products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps. If your device can update to a newer Android version (3.0+), we advise you to do so to maintain access to Google apps and services on that device,” the company said.
Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp, announced that it would also block access to many older phones. The company said WhatsApp 43 would no longer work on older smartphone models. The change affects both Android and Apple iOS.
According to various media reports, WhatsApp will not work on phones running Android 4.0. Apart from this, its support will also stop on iPhone running Apple iOS 9.
According to technology experts, the move will have severe consequences for consumers. Siphumelele Zondi said the effect would be felt globally.
“There are people who are still using old cell phones. WhatsApp has become crucial for communications for these people, which will have a huge impact on them. In a way, it’s as though they are twisting people’s arms to get newer phones to access these important features,” he said.
Zondi added that it appeared as though the two companies had not really looked at the global impact of the decision as they both make significant revenue and numbers from markets outside of the United States of America (USA).
“I suspect the feeling from the companies is that the people will just upgrade to the new version. WhatsApp is bigger outside of the USA, so it makes one wonder if this was really thought of. It’s hoped people will upgrade but whether they can afford to do so is another story,” he said.
Here is a list of the phones that won’t be supported:
Samsung
*Samsung Galaxy Trend Lite
*Samsung Galaxy Trend II
*Samsung Galaxy SII
*Samsung Galaxy S3 mini
*Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
*Galaxy Core
*Galaxy Ace 2
Apple iPhone
*iPhone SE (first generation)
*iPhone 6s
*iPhone 6s Plus (if they’re not updated from iOS 10, they will lose support for WhatsApp).
LG
*LG Lucid 2
*Optimus F7
*Optimus F5
*Optimus L3 II Dual
*Optimus F5
*Optimus L5
*Optimus L5 II
*Optimus L5 Dual
*Optimus L3 II
*Optimus L7
*Optimus L7 II Dual
*Optimus L7 II
*Optimus F6
Enact
*Optimus L4 II Dual
*Optimus F3
*Optimus L4 II
*Optimus L2 II
*Optimus Nitro HD and 4X HD
*Optimus F3Q.
Sony
*Sony Xperia
Huawei
*Huawei Ascend Mate
*Huawei Ascend D2
