Fix Zone: 10 Common WhatsApp Problems and Hows to Resolve them

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. It has over two billion users with over 1.6 billion active every month.

The app usually works great, allowing you to enjoy features like messaging, voice notes, video calls and status. However, there are situations when you may run into problems like lost messages, blurry media among others.

Not everyone, but many users face problems when installing, updating, sending messages, and downloading media on WhatsApp.

The reasons for these problems range from bad connections to phone settings or corrupted update, etc. Due to these reasons, uninstalling and restoring the app won’t always work despite how very time-consuming they can be.

Here I am going to address most of the common errors you may encounter on the app as well as quick and easy fixes for them.

1. Lost Messages

Lost messages is one of the most common issues reported by WhatsApp users. However, this issue isn’t caused by the app as oftentimes, the overload of the Andriod system which causes apps like WhatsApp to Shutdown wrongly is to blame.

The easiest way to avoid this issue is to be proactive. By backing your chats and media either on your device or on the cloud regularly you can avoid losing messages if your device crashes.

To enable backup go to Whatsapp> Settings> Chats> Chat backup> select the BACK UP button.

2. Waiting for this message. This may take a while

While chatting on WhatsApp you may have come across the “Waiting for this message. This may take a while” notification. It’s nothing to worry about because your WhatsApp is working fine. The message comes from the end-to-end encryption feature in WhatsApp.

If the people you are chatting with are offline, and WhatsApp cannot encrypt the message, you will not be able to see the messages on your phone until the sender returns online.

The easiest way to fix this problem is to call or text the sender via SMS and tell him to check his internet connectivity and the re-open the WhatsApp app.

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3. Unable to send and receive messages

The first thing you need to check is your internet connection if you can’t send or receive messages from all your contacts on WhatsApp.

However, if it’s just a few contacts, it means that that the numbers are either not on WhatsApp or have been blocked. Likewise, the contact could have blocked you.

To unblock a number simply go to WhatsApp chat of the contact> click on the name on the top> scroll to the bottom and click unblock.

4. Unable to send or download media files

WhatsApp has a limit to the size of files you can share so you won’t be able to send a file if it’s too large. However, If you are unable to download media files, first ensure you have enough space in your device storage.

If your device space is less than 1 GB, it’s advisable to, clear old photos and videos that you have received in the app. To achieve this, navigate to Whatsapp> Settings> Data and storage usage> Storage usage> select a contact> Manage messages and clear media files.

If space isn’t the problem then ensure that WhatsApp has the right permission to download media. You can check by going to WhatsApp> Settings > Data usage. If your media auto-download is enabled over only Wi-Fi, you will need to either connect to a Wi-Fi network or enable auto-downloads on mobile data.

5. WhatsApp can’t play audio, Video

When voice notes (VN) are not playing through your phone speaker it could be due to your phone’s orientation. WhatsApp relies on a proximity sensor found near the front-facing camera on your phone. This means that if it detects that you’re holding your phone to your ear, the audio will play through the ear speaker very quietly.

So if your VN is playing through the speaker of your phone just keep your phone away from your face. Also, check to make sure the volume is turned up.

However, if it’s a video that cannot be played, it’s most probably because you don’t have a video app that can play HD or MP4 Videos. Simply visit Play store to download a video app.

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6. Contacts are not appearing in WhatsApp

There are a few reasons why WhatsApp wouldn’t recognize your contacts. First is if the contact is not on WhatsApp. Another is that WhatsApp doesn’t have permission to access your contacts.

To solve this simply give WhatsApp permission by going to Settings> Apps> Whatsapp> Permissions> Contacts, in iPhone, go to Settings> Privacy> Contacts> Whatsapp.

If WhatsApp already has permission another thing you can check is to make sure all of your contacts are set to ‘visible’ and/or ‘viewable’. This is because a contact that is set to unviewable would not show on the app.

7. Unfortunately, WhatsApp has stopped

WhatsApp can crash for a host of reasons but the most popular is system overload and corrupt app data. To solve it you can delete all the corrupt data from your app’s data and cache files.

To delete cache files go to settings> apps> WhatsApp > then Press CLEAR DATA and CLEAR CACHE buttons then Restart the app.

Another thing that can stop WhatsApp from working is hosting it on an external SD card. Although this isn’t common, there are some devices that WhatsApp doesn’t work well with when hosted on the external SD.

To resolve in this case, simply move it to internal storage. You can do this by going to settings> apps> downloaded> select app> move to phone.

If the above doesn’t work, you can uninstall the app and then reinstall it but make sure that a Task Killer app isn’t affecting WhatsApp.

Insufficient space on device

Although this is uncommon, WhatsApp will stop working and prompt you to delete files if there is no space on your device. This means that there is no room in internal storage for the operation of WhatsApp. To solve simple move old files to your system or delete large media files from your device.

Error codes 101, 498, 919 or the error message: Not enough space, means that the memory of the smartphone is just too packed and has to be cleared out.

8. Sorry, this media file does not exist

Media files received on WhatsApp is stored on your device. So If you delete the media file through any app, the media file gets blurred in the WhatsApp conversation. This means that you will not be able to read or download the image.

The only way to get the media is to ask your contact to re-send the media file.

9. Your phone’s date is incorrect

This may be weird to you but WhatsApp won’t let you use its app if your phone’s date is inaccurate. To solve this, simply correct your time manually or select the automatic date and time update which uses network-provided time.

10. WhatsApp is not installed

In Android, when you install an app out of Google Play, it’s likely you’ll get an ‘App not installed’ error message. This is because the app is not compatible with your device. For example, the latest version of WhatsApp needs to have a smartphone running Android version 2.3.3 or higher.

You can check your phone’s current Android version in Settings > About Phone.

If that’s not the problem, check if your phone has been enabled to install from Unknown sources. If it’s not, enable it because it won’t install otherwise. An easier solution, however, will be to install WhatsApp from Google Play.

If you’re having other problems with WhatsApp that aren’t listed here, let us know in the comment below.