WHATSAPP has quietly announced that its app will soon stop working on a bunch of iPhones and Android phones.

The Facebook-owned messaging service currently boasts 1.5billion users worldwide, but it will cut off millions from its platform in the next two years.

WhatsApp sneakily revealed the purge in an update to an old blog post titled "support for older operating systems".

In it, the company says it will nix support for the following systems on February 1, 2020:

 
iOS 7 and older
Android Gingerbread versions 2.3.7 and older.
Users of those operating systems can no longer create new WhastApp accounts, but will be able to use the app until the deadline.

What's more, the app could stop functioning at any time, so maybe it's time to buy a new phone.

Android Gingerbread launched in 2010 and still makes up for 0.3 percent of Android's market share – which amounts to roughly six million devices.

Back in December, WhatsApp ended support for BlackBerry OS (including BlackBerry 10) and Windows Phone 8.0 and older.

This is what the fill list of operating systems that are no longer supported by the app now looks like:

Android versions older than 2.3.3
Windows Phone 8.0 and older
iPhone 3GS/iOS 6
Nokia Symbian S60
BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10
 

If you use these older versions, WhatsApp recommends updating to the one of the following operating systems:

Android running OS 4.0+
iPhone running iOS 8+
Windows Phone 8.1+
"Once you have one of these devices, simply install WhatsApp and verify your phone number on the new device. Keep in mind that WhatsApp can only be activated with one phone number on one device at a time," writes WhatsApp.

"There's currently no option to transfer your chat history between platforms. However, we provide the option to send your chat history attached to an email."

 
Its excuse for axing these systems is that they don't tout the capabilities the company needs to expand its functions in the near future.

One of the phones getting the chop, the iPhone 3GS, is going back on sale in South Korea for 44,000 won (£30) this month. Too bad tech buffs won't get to use WhatsApp on the 2009 device.