Did you find this guide helpful? Share it with fellow iPhone 5 users in forums and Facebook groups. And if you’ve discovered a working messaging method on iOS 10.3.4 that we missed, let us know in the comments below.

If the old WhatsApp version still opens (unlikely), go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and back up to iCloud. Then on a newer iPhone (iOS 12+), install the latest WhatsApp and restore from iCloud. If the app no longer opens, the history is locked on the device.

If you own an older iPhone model such as the or iPhone 5c , you have likely encountered a frustrating reality: these devices are permanently stuck on iOS 10.3.4 . They cannot be updated to iOS 11, 12, or any newer operating system.

Because these phones cannot update beyond iOS 10, they are stuck in a 32-bit ecosystem. Modern app development has almost exclusively moved to 64-bit architecture, meaning most developers have stopped supporting older 32-bit devices.

Because you cannot upgrade past iOS 10.3.4, you also cannot download a newer version of WhatsApp from the App Store.

iOS 10.3.4 is well below the minimum requirement. This means that officially, you cannot download a working version of WhatsApp on an iPhone 5 or 5c anymore.