If you are a WhatsApp user on an older firmware like iOS 6, you should have seen this message by now:
Unfortunately,…you won’t be able to use WhatsApp on this phone as WhatsApp will no longer support older versions of iOS.
To me, this basically mean it’s time to buy another iPhone, in fact, a newer one like the iPhone 7 *smiley face*.
Just kidding, don’t lose hope now as there are many workarounds. By that, I don’t mean an actual solution that will make you happy.
Why?
Here’s a thing. Not all applications are compatible with our “changing iOS firmware version” method. The upcoming update that WhatsApp is rolling out will probably be server sided.
This means that you can’t spoof your iPhone version for the app to continue to work. While it’s sad to see WhatsApp being pulled away from iOS 6, I think this is a good move.
Here’s why:
The Facebook-owned company can’t be concentrating on many different iOS versions, especially an old firmware like iOS 6. WhatsApp just wants what’s best for its users, ensuring the overall quality and security of the app.
Any workarounds?
If you’re talking about an actual solution that could get WhatsApp to work on iOS 6 again, then the answer is No. But there are several things you can do if you want to keep using WhatsApp.
- Buy a newer iPhone. It doesn’t have to the latest
- Upgrade to iOS 7 or higher (if your device is compatible, if not, see the first one)
- Move to a different messaging app.
A simple Google search can bring up tons of WhatsApp alternatives. Some of my favorites are Telegram, Messenger, Viber, and of course, iMessage.
I’ve seen a lot of comments on Reddit saying that moving to Telegram was the brightest decision they’ve ever made. Not sure what that means but I guess the app must be better than WhatsApp.
Ultimately, upgrading to the next major firmware is also good. Better design (may vary), more secure, and anything higher than iOS 6 will support WhatsApp.
A good move? Are you serious? Why the hell I need to update my firmware because of one damn app while it still works perfectly. The only reason I don’t want to do that is that iOS 7 and newer looks too ugly. I’m stick with iOS 6 because it is the last version with the good design and functionality. Unfortunately, most of my contacts prefer using Whatsapp. The same frustrating experience was when they FORCED me to update the app on Android with the new shitty material design and ugly round portraits. My Viber app version has almost two years old still works good. I just hate when you are forced to get an update especially when you don’t like the changes in design.
I applaud you Denis because I actually agree with you and iOS 6 WAS and STILL IS the BEST iOS! After Steve Jobs died and iOS 7 rolled out everything went downhill! The flat design looked like a two year old made it! Whatever happened to the beautiful skeuomorphism of iOS and it’s beautiful time taking desing!
Yup. iOS 6 is still the best!
it seems you are right, even in this day and age!
Denis you are a DUMB BUTT
i bought the iphone in july 2007 and took it back a day later for an ipod thinking there would be lots of wifi areas i could surf in. london was unfortunately just 10 years ahead of duzzeldorf germanity where i landed so this ipod touch 32gb gadget was used to take about 5000 poor quality photos. doing an upgrade to os6 i lost about half of them as it was never clear how i could make a backup. apple are evil in the true sense making you use shoddy iphoto and itunes soft wear and hiding where things are. skype worked on this till a year or two ago, now it doesn’t and reading how others have been conned into ‘upgrading’ makes me glad i didn’t continue to buy the crap that apple put out every month or two.
that was the background. now does anyone know what messenger app will work on 6.1.5? After 10 years it would be good to get some use out of this gear which clearly has in reality not changed in a decade, except as we see above just slower…..and slower. i pulled out a 2001 titanium macbook lately running 10.01 and was amazed at the speed of things, 3 times as fast as macbook retina on 10.10.4 which i refuse to upgrade to ?? as i know it gets worse…..
@Denis @Khalid Aun @Tryone Hamilton @Big BANK
I could not agree more. Glad I’m not alone.
Thank you.
Oh and f*** you “Not Denis”!
I still use ios 6.1.3 iphone 4S, the topic is that besides the phone works great for email, film, youtube, audio the min points are the old dated browsers an of course the missing chat apps such as whatsapp.
Viber, I need to look on it. It is installed but never use it. To everyone, the ios 6 running on the old iphone 4S is simply the fast ios possible. I have in the past updated to ios 8 and lucky me was I able to downgrade the ios 6, 2 or 3 year ago. So I know the differences and that was an extremely slow iphone.
This phone 4s with ios 6 will stand forever, until it stops working.