Pokémon GO will no longer be supported on devices running iOS 8 or earlier. They won’t be able to play it at all, actually.
An update for Pokémon GO will be going live on November 20, in which the game will no longer support iOS 8. Since Pokémon GO requires players to be fully updated to access the game, this means anyone unable to update from this operating system will no longer be able to play.
Which phones will this consist of? iPhone 4 and any models earlier than that are the only iPhones unable to update to iOS8. iPhone 4S users, however, can still update to iOS 9.4, and will still be able to play as a result.
Niantic stated the reasoning for this change in a Support post on the Pokémon GO website.
iOS 8 was initially released in 2014. In the time since the release, there have been some major improvements to the iOS operating systems. By removing support for iOS 8, we are able to streamline our development process and focus resources on supporting newer operating systems and technologies.
If you haven’t updated your iOS since August 25, 2016, then you may want to do that. If you are unable to update past iOS 8, then you’ll need a newer iPhone (or an Android) to keep playing.