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WHATSAPP WhatsApp is ending support for a number of popular phones, here's how to save your data WhatsApp users could be set for a nasty shock this month. Following an announcement

earlier this year, WhatsApp will now drop support for a number of ageing mobile platforms. WhatsApp is currently the world’s most popular instant messaging app, with more than one billion

active users across the globe, but the decision to ditch support for older smartphone operating systems will leave millions of devices unable to send or receive messages, or initiate VOIP

phone calls or video chats. By the time 2017 rolls around, WhatsApp will no longer work on the iPhone 3GS, Windows Phone 7 devices, and phones running Android 2.1 or Android 2.2. WhatsApp

first announced the change back in February when the chat app celebrated its seventh birthday. The Facebook company – which was recently subject to a severe security warning – says

technology has changed dramatically since its birth, something which led to its decision to drop support for ageing mobile platforms. HERE IS A LIST OF DEVICES THAT WILL NO LONGER SUPPORT

WHATSAPP BY 2017 – * Any device running Android 2.1 * Any device running Android 2.2 * Windows Phone 7 * iPhone 3GS * Any device running iOS 6 If you're upgrading and moving away from

one of these devices, here's how to make sure you take your data with you. HOW TO BACK-UP YOUR CHATS, CONTACTS, PHOTOS ON ANDROID  The simplest way to ensure your previous WhatsApp

conversations are backed-up ready for your move to a new Android phone is with Google Drive. The Google cloud storage solution only works if you have Google Play Services must be installed,

and you have enough free storage on your phone and Google Drive to accommodate a full back-up of your data. Then head to MENU BUTTON > SETTINGS > CHATS > CHAT BACKUP. Tap on BACK UP

to Google Drive and set the frequency of the backups you'd like, or tap Back Up to launch an immediate backup. HTC • GOOGLE • WHATSAPP For Android users, the easiest way to back-up

data before the move is Google Drive Next, you'll be prompted to select a Google Account to use to back-up your chat history to. If you do not have a Google account, tap Add Account

when prompted to set one up. HOW TO BACK-UP YOUR CHATS, CONTACTS, PHOTOS ON IPHONE iPhone back-ups are stored on Apple's iCloud servers. To launch a manual back-up of your chats, go to

WHATSAPP SETTINGS > CHATS > CHAT BACKUP and tap BACK UP NOW. Alternatively, you can enable automatic, scheduled back-ups of your data by tapping AUTO BACKUP and then choosing the

frequency of the back-up. This will back up your chats and media to your iCloud account. WHATSAPP Apple's own iCloud solution ensures WhatsApp users on older iPhones can recover their

data Within the WHATSAPP SETTINGS > CHATS > CHAT BACKUP menu, you can choose to include or exclude videos from the backup to save space on iCloud. Be warned – the iCloud backup process

can take a while to complete, depending on your Internet connection and back-up size. HOW TO BACK-UP YOUR CHATS, CONTACTS, PHOTOS ON WINDOWS PHONE To back-up your Windows Phone, you're

going to need either a OneDrive cloud storage account, or an SD card to transfer your chat history from your old Windows Phone to the new one. Be warned – at this time it is not possible to

transfer your chat history to an Android or iPhone from a Windows Phone. To back-up content using OneDrive, you'll need to be running Windows Phone 8.1 or newer and be signed into a

OneDrive account. MICROSOFT • WHATSAPP You'll need to make sure there's enough free space in your OneDrive account There needs to be enough free space on both your OneDrive and

Windows Phone (check this by heading to SETTINGS > SYSTEM > STORAGE SENSE – known as STORAGE on Windows 10 Mobile). If you're running a little short, it's possible to exclude

videos from the back up by turning the option within the Settings menu to Off. HOW TO CHANGE THE PHONE NUMBER LINKED TO YOUR WHATSAPP ACCOUNT TO A NEW PHONE Be warned – when you change the

phone number linked to your WhatsApp account, it will migrate all of your account information (including profile information), groups and settings from your old phone number to a new one.

Performing this will delete the account associated with your old phone number, so your contacts can no longer see your old phone number in their lists of WhatsApp contacts. WhatsApp also

specifically warns users not to swap SIM cards or phones frequently, since "this could create problems in the verification process". To change the phone number associated with your

WhatsApp account on Android, insert the new SIM card into your device and launch WhatsApp. Navigate to WHATSAPP > MENU BUTTON > SETTINGS > ACCOUNT > CHANGE NUMBER to associate a

new number with the chat app. WHATSAPP Before using your new device, you'll need to change the WhatsApp account linked to your phone number Enter your old phone number in the top box,

and then fill-in your new phone number in the bottom box. Tap DONE at the top of the screen. You will be prompted to verify your new phone number. iPhone owners follow exactly same steps,

except that the menu is located within SETTINGS > ACCOUNT > CHANGE NUMBER. Those on Windows Phones can find the same menu by heading to WHATSAPP > MORE  > SETTINGS > ACCOUNT

> CHANGE MY NUMBER > CONTINUE. And on BlackBerry, it's SETTINGS > ACCOUNT > CHANGE MY NUMBER. When WhatsApp confirmed it was set to drop a number of ageing platforms, it

said: "As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use. "So, by the end of 2016, we will be ending

support for WhatsApp Messenger on some mobile platforms. "While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to

expand our app's features in the future. "This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and

loved ones using WhatsApp. "If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue

using WhatsApp." Although no official date has been set for switch-off it appears that, come January 1st, there could be a lot of WhatsApp fans in desperate need of smartphone upgrade.

WhatsApp later updated its initial blog post to confirm that it will extend support BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 until June 30, 2017.