Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows Phone 8.1 two years ago and last year the company announced that the outdated handsets will stop receiving app updates after July 1, 2019.
In October 2018, Microsoft stopped accepting new app submissions from developers on October 31. Starting today, you will not find new app updates in Store for your Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 handsets.
The developers can still update their Windows Phone 8.x apps but the app update would show up on a Windows 10 Mobile handset only. The big profile-apps such as WhatsApp will be deprecated at the end of 2019 for all versions of Microsoft’s mobile, while Facebook for Windows 10 Mobile has already been discontinued.
“Microsoft will stop distributing app updates to Windows Phone 8.x or earlier devices,” the company stated in a 2018 announcement. “You’ll still be able to publish updates to all apps (including those with Windows Phone 8.x or earlier packages). However, these updates will only be made available to Windows 10 devices,” the company added.
An AdDuplex data from 2017 revealed that 70% of Windows phones are running Windows Phone 8.1, and while others are on Windows 10 Mobile or older.
Microsoft’s move to stop distribution of app updates to old mobile devices will affect the majority of Windows Phone owners.
