Facebook-owned WhatsApp had disappeared from the Google Play Store on Friday and now WhatsApp confirmed that the app was now back on the Google Play store after its sudden disappearance.
New users can download the app on Android phones by just typing WhatsApp on the search box of Google Play Store.
But the reason for this short absence unfortunately remains unclear.
Some users on Friday reported that the Facebook-owned instant chat messenger app disappeared from the Google Play store.
Due to the sudden disappearance, those who were looking to join WhatsApp for the first time were not able to install it via the Google Play store.
WhatsApp to stop working on iPhone models running iOS 8 on February 1, 2020
iPhone users who have not upgraded to a new version of the operating system for long there is one more reason to do so. If WhatsApp is currently active on your iOS 8 device, you will be able to use it only until February 1, 2020, according to an update from the instant messaging platform.
“On iOS 8, you can no longer create new accounts or reverify existing accounts,” said the update.
So it clear that the iPhone users will need iOS 9 or later to run WhatsApp.
WhatsApp adviced is users that, “For the best experience, we recommend you use the latest version of iOS available for your phone.”
“We don’t explicitly restrict the use of jailbroken or unlocked devices. However, because these modifications might affect the functionality of your device, we can’t provide support for devices using modified versions of the iPhone’s operating system,” it added.
The company also said that users with Android versions 2.3.7 and older will no longer be able to create new accounts, nor reverify existing accounts. However, they will be able to continue using WhatsApp until February 1, 2020.
The issue appears to be limited to Android, and not affecting iOS users. In the meantime, it seems that WhatsApp is also not available on third-party app stores, like Huawei‘s AppGallery and Samsung’s Galaxy Store. I’ll be honest, though, I’ve never used either of these stores, so I wouldn’t even know if it was ever there in the first place.