WhatsApp will stop working on iPhones and iPads that run iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 after November 30, 2026.
Meta announced that the messaging app will raise its minimum operating system to version 16.0 for both iPhone and iPad. Devices stuck on iOS 15.x or iPadOS 15.x will see the app disappear from the store and will no longer be able to send or receive messages once the cutoff passes. The change aligns WhatsApp with Apple's recent security updates and lets Meta use newer APIs.
The impact is mostly on users with older hardware that cannot upgrade beyond iOS 15, such as iPhone 7 or iPad Air 2. Those users will need to switch to an alternative messenger or replace their device.
Most Android users are unaffected, so the shift is a reminder that Apple’s aging device base still faces software attrition.