TECH NEWS

WhatsApp Drops Android Lollipop Support: What Users Can Do

WhatsApp Messenger splashscreen. Image: Mika Baumeister/Unsplash

WhatsApp has ended support for Android 5.0 and 5.1. Learn how to check your software, back up chats, and move to a compatible phone if necessary.

Sep 9, 2026

Time to say goodbye to Android Lollipop.

Meta-owned messaging giant WhatsApp has ended support for Android 5.0 and Android 5.1 Lollipop, leaving smartphones stuck on the decade-old software outside WhatsApp’s supported-device requirements and at risk of losing access.

The cutoff took effect Sept. 8, raising the platform’s baseline requirement to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for both WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business. The shift was flagged in April, when WABetaInfo reported that WhatsApp had begun showing affected users in-app notices about the coming cutoff.

WhatsApp says it periodically drops older operating systems because they may lack current security updates or functionality required to run the app. On its FAQ page, they explained its selection criteria:

“Every...

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Novel Blue Moon kit targeting Chrome and Windows reflects new reality of AI-driven exploits

At least four espionage groups, most with suspected links to China, are using a new exploit kit that chains two Chromium-based browser flaws and one Microsoft Windows bug to break into organizations' networks in the US and Southeast Asia. Mark Kelly, a threat researcher at email security shop Proofpoint,

Tesla's Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, but a hidden touchscreen joystick may let humans drive it

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Connecting the dots: Tesla's Cybercab may not have a steering wheel or pedals, but there may still be a way to drive it manually. A video posted on X shows an unusual

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OpenAI adds a prominent AI doomer to its board of directors

Paul Christiano, an influential AI researcher focused on keeping AI systems aligned with human interests and under human control, is joining the OpenAI Foundation board, the frontier lab said Wednesday. “I now believe there is a meaningful risk that rapid acceleration in AI capabilities leads to catastrophic and irreversible loss

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Deploying Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B on Amazon SageMaker HyperPod with vLLM | Amazon Web Services

On August 12, 2026, Alibaba’s Qwen team released Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B. This is the first time a Qwen-Max-class model has been made available as open weights. With 2.4 trillion total parameters (95 billion activated per token), a hybrid linear-plus-full-attention architecture, and native context up to 262K tokens (extensible

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Novel Blue Moon kit targeting Chrome and Windows reflects new reality of AI-driven exploits

Tesla's Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, but a hidden touchscreen joystick may let humans drive it

OpenAI adds a prominent AI doomer to its board of directors

Deploying Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B on Amazon SageMaker HyperPod with vLLM | Amazon Web Services