KakaoTalk raised the minimum supported version of its Android app, cutting off access for users with older smartphones.
But some users who were unaware of the update said they were suddenly unable to launch KakaoTalk, causing confusion.
On the 14th, posts with the gist of "KakaoTalk suddenly doesn't work" appeared on user online communities.
A user who said they use a Samsung Electronics Galaxy S7 wrote, "I'm using an old phone, but today KakaoTalk suddenly froze along with an update prompt," adding, "When I tap update, it doesn't update—only 'Open' appears."
The user suspected a lack of storage, secured more than 2GB of free space, and rebooted the phone, but wrote that the problem was not resolved.
Earlier, Kakao said in a notice on Mar. 10 that it would change the minimum supported version of KakaoTalk for Android to v11.0.0. The change applies to versions below v11.0.0, and the effective date is Apr. 13.
Kakao explained that if users continue using versions below v11.0.0 after the effective date, those versions will be excluded from support and KakaoTalk cannot be used.
At the time, Kakao said in the notice, "We are informing you well in advance to ensure you do not experience inconvenience due to a sudden service interruption, so please update within the period."