Microsoft Corporation has announced its plan to stop its support for its mobile operating system on the 10th of December, 2019. This news only points to one clear suggestion for users of the Windows 10 Mobile version 1709, which is simply for them to migrate to another platform, Microsoft announced that from that time, there would be no more product or security update for the platform. The announcement was made on a life cycle support page and the announcement also applies to all Windows 10 Mobile products as well as Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise. Microsoft is not supporting its Windows phone on December 10, therefore, loads of apps have to be migrated from Xamarin to iOS or Android native.
We should not forget that Microsoft also carried out a similar process in 2017 when it canceled Windows 8.1 Mobile Support and declared that it wasn’t going to continue developing any new feature for the OS in addition to the fact that it wasn’t working on their latest phones, although security updates were still being provided for it. But this time, by December, no security update will be provided for the Windows 10 Mobile Support hence, Microsoft has clearly advised current users to switch to Android or iOS devices. In an FAQ, Microsoft said “with the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device. Microsoft’s mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices.”
Microsoft has been trying with an increasing focus to get its services on devices such as iOS and Android. In actual fact, Android has become the mobile OS for Windows users, most especially with the advent of Windows 10’s feature called “Your phone”. This feature allows you to replicate an android feature on your desktop, thus effects like transferring photos, sending and receiving texts are made possible. The same goes for iOS users, although most of the Windows 10 services are embedded in the Edge App.
Therefore, this new recommendation is for Windows 10 Mobile users to move to iOS or Android devices as Microsoft prepares to withdraw its support by the 10th of December 2019, after this period, the device backup for settings and some apps will continue to run for three months until March 10,2020. Microsoft also revealed this bit of information, that “some services including photo uploads and restoring a device from existing device backup may continue to work up to another 12 months from the end of support.” It should also be noted that Microsoft previously ended Windows 8.1 support on the 11th of July, 2017, so the end of Windows 10 Mobile support is which is topping the news now is not surprising. The main focus of Microsoft now is to build apps and services for iOS and Android.