• Diyan
• On February 20, 2018

Microsoft shuts down the push notification service for older Windows phones

There are probably not many people still using phones with the ancient Windows Phone 7.5 or 8.0, but Microsoft is shutting down today an important feature of these operating systems – the push notification service. Starting February 20th, 2018, both mobile platforms will lose the ability to receive push notifications and live tile updates. Find my Phone will also stop working for Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.0.

The Push Notification Service enables third-party developers to send toast, tile, badge, and raw updates from their own cloud service in a power-efficient and dependable way. But most of the developers have already abandoned their apps for these platforms, the user base has decreased rapidly, and Microsoft itself ended support for Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.0.

Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile won’t be affected by this change, although Microsoft ended support for Windows Phone 8.1 on July 11, 2017. Windows 10 Mobile will be supported until December 2019, but the push notification service may continue to function beyond the end-of-support date.