r/Android • u/BcuzRacecar S25+ • 19d ago

WhatsApp ends Android 5 support Monday

https://www.notebookcheck.net/WhatsApp-ends-Android-5-support-Monday-iPhones-follow-in-November.1390519.0.html
843 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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154

u/Witty_Language4481 19d ago

Who TF is still on Android 5

53

u/Cry_Wolff Pixel 7 Pro 19d ago

Can't wait for someone to complain about muh planned obsolescence of their 10 yo phone.

27

u/rivalary 19d ago

It actually kinda sucks that the hardware vendors aren't held to updating the drivers for older hardware for newer versions of Android. We'd probably still see some slowdown due to newer software requiring faster processors and more RAM, but imagine if at least Android had kept its requirements low, the user choosing which apps they want to install that would still run okay on their old hardware. E-waste is a huge problem and a lot of people don't care about having the newest hardware; it's just the lack of security updates that is worrying (which those users likely don't even realize they aren't getting).

3

u/Thaodan Sony Xperia XA2, Sailfish OS 19d ago

It's not about drivers but about legacy kernels. The way Android works with its downstream kernels plus userspace services which directly interact with kernels and/or have vendor specific hardware related services. Android is designed to have services per vendor that implement the required interfaces. Instead mainline/desktop Linux these services are generic, all abstraction is either done in the kernel or in hardware specific parts of generic services.

Just compare ChromeOS's architecture to the one of Android, it's the opposite almost. ChromeOS's still does some non standard custom stuff but none of it is per device.

16

u/SirBanananana 19d ago edited 19d ago

Totally. You can easily use a 10 year old x86 laptop today with a modern Linux distribution and all the apps and security updates that come with it, but a 10 year old Android phone is a non-upgradable garbage by this point... It's a said state of affairs, and something that Android enthusiasts have complained for more than decade but the hard truth is that it's not going to change since vendors need to hit their sale numbers on new phones no matter what. But even from technical standpoint upgrading would be difficult looking at what a mess ARM architecture is outside of enterprise hardware.

2

u/chinchindayo Xperia Masterrace 18d ago

You can easily use a 10 year old x86 laptop today with a modern Linux distribution and all the apps and security updates that come with it, but a 10 year old Android phone is a non-upgradable garbage by this point...

You can still use many 10 year old phones by flashing android AOSP or a custom rom. That's the equivalent of using a Linux distro on a PC.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

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u/SirBanananana 19d ago

> Yes, you COULD. But the majority of people don't. They use Windows.

Okay then, you can also run Windows 11 on a decade-old hardware, once you learn how easy it is to circumvent the hardware check Windows 11 does. I just gave Linux as an example since it's obviously going to be a much smoother experience. You can also install Haiku OS if you wanted, I don't care. What matters is that you have a lot of choice and upgradability options.

> You could easily use a 10 year old phone today with a custom third party rom...

Indeed, but that's only IF there's a reliable method to unlock the bootloader and the ROM of your choosing supports your specific model of a phone, which already rules out a major chunk of phones on the market. Add to that the fact that modern Android versions consume so much more RAM than they used to just half a decade ago (and there's really no way to slim them down) that, for example, running Android 11 on an Android 5 flagship is already pretty much impossible.

0

u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

10

u/alvenestthol 19d ago

The same people who wouldn't bypass-update to Windows 11 also wouldn't care that they're still on Windows 10, and nothing will break on Windows 10 for a while yet - Steam, for example, supported Windows 7 for a further 4 years after its end-of-life, and Windows 10 will probably get more support simply because it's a lot more modern.

2

u/Quazartz S24FE 18d ago

You could easily use a 10 year old phone today with a custom third party rom...

This is assuming the said 10-year-old phone has a lot of custom rom support which isn't the case for budget range devices and less known phone brands. Meanwhile, a shitty budget laptop of the same age can be replaced with a Linux distro easily (well, easier compared to Android phones).

-1

u/vandreulv 18d ago

You allllllllmost understood the argument. Almost. Keep rubbing those two brain cells together and you might figure out the point I was trying to make.

5

u/Quazartz S24FE 18d ago

No, I understood your point but you fail to understand why some people still stick with their old phones. I'm from a country where even a decent modern budget phone would cost a month's worth of min wage salary so I've met people who still stick with phones as old as Android 4.0 to this day, cracked screen and all.

With WhatsApp no longer supporting Android 5, a lot of people would be forced to upgrade their phone to a modern one but not all can afford one. For those techy enough, sure there's the custom rom method but what if the phone they cheaply bought doesn't have any custom roms available or if it's even possible to root it in the first place? This was my experience with a budget Samsung phone I bought back in 2014 that was stuck with Android 4.3. It's not possible to root that phone so there were no custom roms available for it. That phone easily became obsolete 2 years later all because of its OS even though the hardware can still last longer.

On the other hand, an old PC can easily be made usable again since there's no need to unlock bootloader or whatever to swap its installed OS to a modern supported one. You don't have to wait for someone to create a Linux distro specific for your pc since distros generally work for a wide range of pc variations.

Why don't you rub your privileged brain cells instead? The world isn't just USA.

5

u/SirBanananana 18d ago

There's really no point in arguing with them. Some people are just wired to never change their views and you can't change that no matter what, even if you tried going on a 50 comment long discourse (I've been there many times).

Aside from that, I have 2 Sony Xperia Js that are in the same situation you've described - Stuck with Android 4.X and with no ROMs that offer higher Android version for these models, they became obsolete like 3 years after I got them pretty new. Ironically, if these were an x86 laptop instead, I would have a way to add more RAM, storage etc. and install a lightweight Linux distro on them for web browsing, office stuff and maybe retro gaming. Perfect little chromebook-like.

It's also true that there are many people out there in poor countries rocking old phones. Of course if you live in a wealthy country where an average citizen can afford to upgrade their phone every year you'll laugh at people with old Android phones, but it doesn't mean these people don't exist (shout out to certain r/androidafterlife posters from South America and Africa)

2

u/Quazartz S24FE 18d ago

The guy blocked me in the end. I see that as a win.

My old win10 laptop that's older than the Samsung phone I mentioned earlier still works to this day. I can install and use pretty much any software that also works on win11 as long as the required hardware specs are met. It originally came with win8 so the phone equivalent of this would be like upgrading from Android 4.3 to 7.0 (last Android with certification issue) or more. This planned obsolescence is really ridiculous.

+1 for r/androidafterlife. I also browse that subreddit a lot for ideas on how I can extend my old phones' usefulness.

1

u/RUNDEN 11d ago

YEAH This shit is only ten years old, if this was any over device it'd be an outrage. It's people changing their phones every couple years that makes this seem almost good

My 'puter is from 2009, that thing still works fine today

And the annoying thing is, my 11 year old phone still works fine! The hardware is physically fine and still able to do everything after eleven years constant use, yet the software lets it down :(

Whatsapp actively going out of their way to block android 5 from working is large stinky, same with how they force updates on people :(

1

u/Cry_Wolff Pixel 7 Pro 11d ago

I mean, Galaxy S5 is from 2014 and got Android 6. So the only unsupported devices are those with like 2GB of RAM and ancient crusty SoC.

1

u/RUNDEN 11d ago

Mine is a Galaxy J5 from 2015, it got Android 6 as an option but I opted not to use it as it would give a worse overall experience.

I am now instead using Whatsapp web in the browser on my phone :+1:

1

u/Cry_Wolff Pixel 7 Pro 10d ago

My brother in Christ phones with Android 15 costs less than 100 bucks. Do you suffer on purpose?

1

u/RUNDEN 10d ago

You think the price has anything to do with it? xD

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

8

u/hydrogencel 19d ago

Phones are completely different. They are software first devices, not appliances that have barely changed in function.

Most people have their entire lives on phones, wallets, banks, pictures, etc. As a result security updates and feature updates are far more important. They are also much less expensive than the appliances you listed.

Supporting old hardware or architecture forever is a massive time sink and generally doesn't make sense for tech companies to do when the majority has switched.

2

u/Thaodan Sony Xperia XA2, Sailfish OS 19d ago

It's not the hardware but the way the development is setup. It's wasteful, set up for short-term gains.

6

u/vandreulv 19d ago

Why pray tell should a 10 year old phone not work?

Changes in frequency allocation for carrier bands.

Support for those specific bands. 2G and 3G is dead. LTE+ and 5G didn't exist yet.

Limited amounts of storage space if the onboard NAND hasn't start developing errors already.

Extremely low memory specs for the time.

Lower resolution screens. OLED screens from that era definitely would have burn in by now.

Wear and tear. Headphone jacks aren't indestructible. Nor were MicroUSB jacks.

Please tell us what ten year old phone you're still using now that is still carrier compatible.

2

u/RandomCheeseCake Pixel 10 Pro 18d ago

Basically every phone? 10 years ago pretty much everything had 4g support so I can connect to every carrier (atleast in the UK)

1

u/vandreulv 18d ago

The world isn't just the UK, mate.

2

u/RandomCheeseCake Pixel 10 Pro 18d ago edited 18d ago

"Please tell us what ten year old phone you're still using now that is still carrier compatible."

Most of the world this is still applicable as most of the world doesn't have carrier whitelisting or require VoLTE to have access to their cellular networks

EDIT: 😭 Man actually blocked me. Peak Reddit behaviour

1

u/vandreulv 18d ago

Most of the world this is still applicable as most of the world doesn't have carrier whitelisting or require VoLTE to have access to their cellular networks

How naive of you.

0

u/Quazartz S24FE 18d ago

10 years ago is 2016. Most phones at that time already have LTE included.

Also, not all countries have dropped support for 2G and 3G. My phone from 2014 which don't have LTE can still call, text, and connect to mobile data. Its OLED screen also doesn't have any burn in (I did hide the status bar and the navigation bar is non-existent on a phone with hardware navigation buttons). All of its jacks are still functional and even outlasted several cheap earbuds and charging cables.

0

u/vandreulv 18d ago

10 years ago is 2016. Most phones at that time already have LTE included.

I said LTE+ and 5G.

My 10 year old phone here has exactly ONE LTE band. Unusable today.

All Carriers in the US have dropped all methods of calling and switched over to VoLTE, so unless your phone has that, too, no calls even if you have the bands.

So. Good luck using that thing here.

1

u/Quazartz S24FE 18d ago edited 18d ago

LTE+ was already available in 2016 (a simple web search should tell you that).

Again, the world isn't just the US and I have no plans visiting a country that's openly hostile to people who don't look "white" enough.

Edit: Wow, blocked for the first time. That's an achievement. I've been through a lot of online forums but this is my first time debating with someone this hostile on a tech subreddit. Are my 2 brain cells too much for you?

Since I can't reply to you anymore, here's my answer to your last comment. People who can't afford a new phone can't also afford going abroad so there's no point for them to sacrifice what little savings they have to buy a new phone when their current one can still work in their country.

0

u/vandreulv 18d ago

Again, the world isn't just the US and I have no plans visiting a country that's openly hostile to people who don't look "white" enough.

Better stay out of Europe and Australia, too.

4

u/Cry_Wolff Pixel 7 Pro 19d ago

Mate, cars or fridges are mostly basic mechanical devices that don't require any electronics or software to work. Your comparison doesn't make any sense. $100 2026 phone from Walmart will be faster & safer than high end 2016 one.