WhatsApp Web for iPad, 2 years later…

My iPad Pro 11” is using IOS 17.5.1. I rarely used WhatsApp Web for iPad: only on the rare occasion when I wanted a video call on a larger screen for which I couldn’t use Zoom or FaceTime, so I am two years late to this discussion.

I just discovered yesterday (Aug 1/24) that both WhatsApp web - previously accessed with a QR code captured from the app on my phone - AND SKYPE are both giving error messages saying they are “not supported by my region”. The QR code in WhatsApp web is now obscured by a diagonal banner inviting me to try “30mins for free”, presumably after which I will be asked to pay or subscribe. (To keep META from going broke, I suppose.). Skype just says it is no longer supported: not trying to extort money from me, just no longer providing me with the app I’ve been using for 12 years.

I have no idea whether these two events (in WhatsApp and in Skype) are connected. Just curious to know whether any one has experienced this or found a work-around. My suspicion is that this is a META issue, perhaps a Microsoft one. (Hardly seems in the interest of Apple to make these widely-used apps incompatible with Safari in their expensive devices.)