WhatsApp to become dysfunctional starting January 1st.

The Social Media app might lose a large customer body starting next year. Are you one of those?

This is an alert for some Android users and all users of iOS 9 and below. WhatsApp will begin to change its policies and software starting next year and needs mobile phones with both the technical and hardware capabilities which are offered by versions above the iOS 9 and Android 4.0.3.

You can check your phone's settings and general information to know whether you are running on an outdated operating system. This will happen because there are new updates, processing speeds, more fluid functioning which the app wishes to achieve and it will not be possible with older softwares.

This is an incentive of either buying a new phone, or updating the one you already have. As the app has become a necessity which the world frankly cannot live without today. More than 65 billion messages are exchanged on WhatsApp daily which is more than any other social media site other than Facebook.

It is a necessity at this age, and the requirement for an update is following a general complementary good economic model. When you buy a car, you will have to purchase petrol. Similarly, when you buy a phone, you will download WhatsApp with it. Now, the tables are turning, the Facebook run messaging app is now going to incentivise users to upgrade their phones and even buy newer models just to satisfy their social addiction.

This is a move that will not affect too many people, and the ones which do get harmed will have no other choice but to upgrade. Changing devices with software requirements has always been an aspect to consider when newer softwares come in the market, this is anyhow the first time that this is happening at such a large scale.