New Delhi, March 19: WhatsApp has published a new support document that shares details on ending support for devices running iOS 9 and earlier versions of the operating system (OS). To date, iOS 9 users were able to use the encrypted chat service. However, now iOS 10 is required which means users will need an iPhone 5 or later model to use WhatsApp. The change will affect users of the iPhone 4S for the most part, but this is still only a tiny percentage of iPhone users. WhatsApp Working On End to End Encryption For Cloud Backups Using Password to Prevent Chat Leaks.

"In December. Apple confirmed that 81 per cent of iPhone users are running iOS 14, with a further 17 per cent on iOS 13 or earlier, which means that only 2 per cent of iPhone users are running a version of iOS 12 or earlier," reports iMore.

Last year, the Facebook-owned messaging service dropped support for iOS 8 and older versions of the operating system. WhatsApp is working on a new password protection feature that will encrypt chat backups in Cloud, making them accessible only to the users. WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted but this protection currently doesn't apply to online backups stored on Google Drive and Apple iCloud.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 19, 2021 01:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).