WhatsApp will soon stop working on millions of phones after the messaging app announced it will stop supporting older devices.

The Facebook-owned company revealed on its support page which smartphones would no longer be able to access the app, claiming the move was necessary to ensure the security of its users.

Various versions of Android, iPhone and Windows Phone are affected, with the official support period ending on 1 February, 2020.

WhatsApp will no longer work on any iPhones running iOS 8 or earlier, which was first introduced by Apple in 2014. This means anyone with an iPhone 6 or newer will not need to worry about losing WhatsApp.

“For the best experience, we recommend you use the latest version of iOS available for your phone,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.

12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Show all 12 1 /12 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Unsend messages You can unsend a message by tapping and holding it, hitting the Delete symbol and selecting Delete for Everyone. The feature works for all types of messages, but only if they were sent less than seven minutes ago. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Dodge the blue ticks WhatsApp’s blue ticks show when sent messages have been read, but you can disable them buy going to Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. However, bear in mind that, by doing so, you’ll lose the ability to see when your own sent messages have been read. Another, more fiddly way of reading your messages without triggering the blue ticks, is enabling Aeroplane Mode before opening your messages - just remember to close the app before switching Aeroplane Mode off again. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Hide your 'last seen' time Prevent your friends from finding out when you were last online by hiding your last seen time. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. As is the case with disabling read receipts, hiding your ‘last seen’ time will also stop you from seeing anybody else’s. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Limit data usage You can control how much data you munch through on WhatsApp by limiting the types of media you automatically download on a mobile connection. Go to Settings > Data Usage and choose the best option for you. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Customise notifications If you’re expecting an important WhatsApp message from someone, set a custom notification for them by opening the chat, tapping their name at the top and hitting Custom Notifications. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Format your messages To jazz up any of your messages, simply highlight it by tapping and holding it, hit the More Options key on the pop-up menu and tap the formatting option you want - bold, italic, strikethrough or monospace. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Type hands-free You can get Siri or Google Assistant to type your WhatsApp messages out for you by saying either “Hey Siri” or “Okay Google”, followed by the name of the person you want to message and the actual contents of the message. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Mark chats as unread When you’ve read a message but can’t reply to it straight away, you can set a visual reminder by marking it as unread. On Android, long-press the conversation, and on iOS, swipe from left to right on a chat. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Email entire conversations You almost certainly won’t do this on a regular basis, but it’s a handy option to have. You can export entire conversations - complete with emoji and media attachments - by hitting More inside a chat a selecting Email Chat. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Mass-message contacts You can send the same message to lots of your contacts without lumping them all into one group, much like the BCC option on email, by hitting the New Broadcast option on the app’s main menu. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Pin conversations You pin up to three contacts and groups to the top of your WhatsApp conversation list by tapping and holding a chat, then hitting the pin icon. 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Make things easier to find You can easily mark key messages with a star, allowing you to find them easily when you need to. Just tap and hold a message and hit the star icon to save it, and return to it later by selecting Starred Messages in WhatsApp’s main menu.

Android phones using an older version than 2.3.3 – also known as Gingerbread – will also no longer be supported and anyone attempting to create a new account or verify an existing account using older Androids will be blocked.

Android Gingerbread came out in 2010, so nearly a decade’s worth of Samsung, Huawei, Sony and Google smartphones are safe from the cull.

Windows Phones running the mobile operating system Windows Phone 8.1 or beyond will continue to be supported by WhatsApp.

Any WhatsApp users affected could theoretically update their OS in order to continue using WhatsApp, however many older phone models will either have difficulty running newer operating systems, or will simply not allow them to be installed.