News & Reviews:   whatsapp announce

WhatsApp is set to phase out support for older Android devices later this year, as part of its ongoing effort to maintain performance and introduce newer features. The change will take effect on 8 September 2026, impacting users running outdated versions of the Android operating system.

Today, WhatsApp has announced a new wave of features aimed at making chats easier to manage, more flexible across devices, and smarter with AI integration. The update focuses on solving everyday pain points such as storage limitations, switching phones, and juggling multiple accounts, while also introducing new AI-powered tools for messaging and media.

Today, WhatsApp has announced a new feature called parent-managed accounts, designed to give parents and guardians greater control when younger users begin using the messaging platform. The update aims to create a safer messaging environment for pre-teens while preserving the app’s privacy protections.

WhatsApp is reintroducing its original About status feature — a simple way for users to post short updates about what they are doing. According to the company, About was actually WhatsApp’s very first feature, used before the app was even built around messaging.

WhatsApp is rolling out a multi-account feature in its iOS TestFlight beta (version 25.34.10.72), allowing eligible users to add and switch between two separate WhatsApp accounts on the same device. For users who have multiple accounts on WhatsApp, this can be a useful feature in the future.

Today, WhatsApp has launched a new message translation feature aimed at making conversations smoother across languages, without compromising privacy. At the moment, it's not part of the latest WhatsApp update, but it will gradually roll out.

As we reported before, WhatsApp has finally rolled out its new AI-powered Writing Help. To the uninitiated, this new feature was designed to help users write the right tone in their messages—without ever leaving the chat.

Nobody wants to read and catch up on a "million" messages after a long day. This is why WhatsApp is introducing a new Private Message Summaries feature aimed at helping users read a summary of what they have missed in their most active chats.

Today, WhatsApp has introduced new features in its Updates tab, home to both Status and Channels, to help users discover more content, creators, and businesses more efficiently. Since it's on the business side of things, there is a fee to pay.

From time to time, older phone models will not receive any software support from WhatsApp. As of June 1, 2025, WhatsApp has officially discontinued support for several older iPhone and Android models, following an update to its minimum operating system requirements.