WhatsApp prepares to drop devices below Android 5.0

WhatsApp has been testing new features for the users but the company is also preparing to drop all support and updates for Android devices that have version 5.0 or below.

It means a device with Android 4.4 KitKat (the operating system was released in 2013) or older. Therefore, WhatsApp will soon require you to use a smartphone with Android 5.0 (released in 2014) or later.

This change means WhatsApp won’t provide software support for these devices including updates, bug fixes, and security improvements. The latest change reflects the chat apps’ policy in order to fetch new features from the latest Android.

WhatsApp 2.23.9.5:

WhatsApp has released a new 2.23.9.5 version under the beta testing channel and it brings fixes for a splash screen bug that appeared in the last build 2.23.9.2.

According to the details, WhatsApp beta previously brought in a bug that distorted the splash screen and it appeared large than usual. However, with the latest addition, WhatsApp has reportedly fixed this bug on the way.

Note that these changes are only spotted in the beta version of WhatsApp. It may take some time for WhatsApp to release them to all users.

(source)