Dubai: Has WhatsApp stopped working on your phone today? Then it may be time to upgrade your phone’s software, or the phone itself.
According to an announcement by WhatsApp, it will no longer support Android devices, which are running the operating system OS 4.0.4, which was called Ice Cream Sandwich or ICS by Google, from November 1, 2021.
Also, if you have an iPhone, you would need to have an iOS 10 or newer operating system to be able to use WhatsApp, as the platform does not support devices running software versions released before iOS 10.
What can I do if WhatsApp stopped working on my phone?
According to WhatsApp’s support website, your WhatsApp chats are automatically backed up and saved daily to your phone's memory. Depending on your settings, you can also periodically back up your WhatsApp chats to Google Drive.
However, if you wish to manually back up your chats, follow these steps:
1. Go to WhatsApp.
2. Tap on ‘More options’.
3. Tap on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Chats’. Tap on ‘Chat backup’ and then select ‘BACK UP’.
How to restore your chat history
Once you have switched your phone to an upgraded version of Android, follow these steps to restore your chat history.
Restore from a Google Drive backup
In order to successfully restore a Google Drive backup, you need to use the same phone number and Google account used to create the backup.
To restore your backup:
Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
Open WhatsApp and verify your number.
When prompted, tap ‘Restore’ to restore your chats and media from Google Drive.
After the restoration process is complete, tap ‘Next’. Your chats will be displayed once initialisation is complete.
WhatsApp will begin restoring your media files after your chats are restored.
If you install WhatsApp without any prior backups from Google Drive, WhatsApp will automatically restore from your local backup file.
