The UK Broadcaster BBC has announced that it will be discontinuing its iPlayer App for Windows Phone 8.1. The company on its Website has confirmed the discontinuation of the app in April 2017.
The company also confirmed that it will be supporting its Streaming TV Service on the Edge Browser for Windows 10 Mobile. You will not be able to use the iPlayer App for Windows Phone 8.1 after April 2017.
The company says that if you want to continue using the BBC iPlayer App you would need to upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile. BBC writes:
Can I still use BBC iPlayer on my Windows Phone once the app closes in April 2017?
Yes, with your Edge browser you can still access BBC iPlayer providing you have Windows 10 Mobile installed.
Why are you closing the app?
When the BBC iPlayer app was originally created it was not technically possible to playback BBC programmes via the browser. As it’s now possible to playback via the browser it’s no longer cost effective for the BBC to maintain a BBC iPlayer app for Windows mobile devices. And by using the browser version of BBC iPlayer, Windows phone users will get the benefits of the web version as it evolves.
Should I update to Windows 10 Mobile?
Many phones running Windows Phone 8.1 are able to update to Windows 10 Mobile and Microsoft have created the Windows 10 Mobile Upgrade Advisor app which can check whether your device can be upgraded: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/upgrade-advisor/9nblggh0f5g4
If you do upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile, you’ll be able to play content from BBC iPlayer and BBC iPlayer Radio. If you remain on Windows Phone 8.1, you’ll only be able to play radio programmes.
This is definitely  bad news for users in UK who are still on Windows Phone 8.1 since they will no longer be able to have access to the iPlayer App after couple of months. They would have to upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile to continue using the service.
If you are interested you can download the app by clicking the below link.
