WhatsApp no longer works in Symbian S60 phones (Nokia N8 etc)
Symbian client of WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app, stopped working on July 18, 2017. Leaving a sizable number of Symbian users disappointed. Incidentally there are still thousands of consumers still using old Symbian S60 phones especially in developing countries. This move is not sudden however, WhatsApp gave plenty of time to Symbian users to switch their account to a “modern” OS like Android or iOS device. Ironically you can still use WhatsApp in a (less capable) S40 phone – if you still have one.
Theoretically this should have happened on July 1, 2017 as WhatsApp already declared the deadline of end of support for Symbian as on June 30, 2017. But they still gave 18 more days to move on. Earlier (last year) the deadline was extended from December 31, 2016 to further 6 months.
We were using WhatsApp in a Nokia N8 for years. But now the app only gives a warning popup with a “Learn more” button. This button leads to a WhatsApp FAQ page with Device support info. The error popup reads
Unfortunately WhatsApp no longer supports this phone. Please switch to a supported phone.
We even re-installed the app (there is still the last version 2.16.57 available to download at WhatsApp site) but of no use – it also started with the same popup.
What you can do now?
You still have your media content in your Symbian phone, it will not be affected. But all your chats will be lost and there is no way to recover them.
As WhatsApp is a server-client interaction based service – nothing can be done to make the app work again anyhow. You can’t fool the service by changing the date or by using an older version of WhatsApp etc.