Do you use the PayPal App to pay for items purchased using your mobile device? PayPal announced that all users of its mobile app must upgrade to the latest version by the end of next month, and the company also announced it is dropping support for some operating systems.
Starting on June 3 and through June 30, customers using older versions of the PayPal mobile app on Android and iOS will be required to upgrade to version 6.0, the newest version of the PayPal app. Version 6.0 of the PayPal app is currently supported on the following devices:
- Android devices running OS 4.03 or greater
- Apple devices running iOS 8.1 or higher: iPhone 4S or greater, iPad 2 or greater, and iPod Touch 5th gen or greater
PayPal is dropping support for its PayPal mobile app for those who use devices running other operating systems.
Some publications said it was surprising PayPal would drop support for Amazon Kindle Fire, including Cnet, but the publication also noted that Apple and Google (makers of the iOS and Android operating system, respectively) accounted for 97% of smartphone sales worldwide in the first quarter, according to market researcher Gartner, “leaving little justification for developers to support competitive platforms.”
Just how much shopping are people doing on Windows Phones, Kindle Fires, or Blackberry devices? Only PayPal knows, but users can still access PayPal through its mobile web experience (through Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge browsers, for example).
“It was a difficult decision to no longer support the PayPal app on these mobile platforms,” PayPal blogged, “but we believe it’s the right thing to ensure we are investing our resources in creating the very best experiences for our customers. We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.”
You can find the announcement on the PayPal blog. Users have until June 30th to update their apps.
