Why Is WhatsApp Web Not Working?

WhatsApp recently passed two Billion users on the platform. One of the reasons for the huge popularity of WhatsApp was its cross-platform availability in the old days. It was available on WhatsApp, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and even BlackBerry 10 OS. In January 2015, WhatsApp announced the WhatsApp Web service that uses your phone to mirror conversations on the big screen. WhatsApp’s Web client is an extension of your phone and messages still remain on your phone. But what if WhatsApp Web suddenly stops working?

The service works in popular browsers and requires your phone to run smoothly. Due to its nature, there can be many reasons why WhatsApp Web might not work on your desktop. Normally, WhatsApp Web works just fine, but there are times when it keeps rebooting, fails to deliver a message, or shows an error beforehand. There may be several factors behind the behavior.

In this article, we will talk about why WhatsApp Web is not working on your desktop/laptop and what steps you can take to fix it. Lets start.

1. Make Sure WhatsApp Is Working On Your Mobile

As mentioned above, WhatsApp Web relies entirely on the WhatsApp mobile app to function properly. Therefore, it is important to make sure that WhatsApp works perfectly on mobile devices first.

Go to your mobile and send a few text messages to make sure WhatsApp is working as expected. If it is not working properly, you can try the following troubleshooting steps.

• Toggle Airplane Mode
• Turn Mobile Data On/Off
• Give permission to use data in the background
• Use Wi-Fi if you’re out of data
• Network Settings Reset
• Update the WhatsApp app on your mobile device

2. Check Browser Compatibility

WhatsApp officially supports a number of browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Firefox and Safari. So, if you are still stuck in the past and using Internet Explorer or other unknown desktop browsers, WhatsApp Web may not work. Try switching to popular options for a smooth connection.

3. Reactivate Session

You can try to re-enable the WhatsApp Web session by logging out of the web and logging back in. Go to WhatsApp Web and sign in to the chat. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner and select sign out.

Go to WhatsApp Web in the browser, scan the QR code using the mobile app and use the service.

4. Use Private Mode in Your Browser

While surfing the web using the normal browser, it collects cache, cookies and other files in the browser to quickly reload the most used websites. Sometimes these files can affect WhatsApp Web.

All browsers offer Private/Incognito mode which does not use existing cookies or site data to load WhatsApp Web. In Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner and select Private mode. The browser will open another window with Incognito mode enabled. Visit WhatsApp Web, scan the QR code and start using the service.

4. Clear Cookies from Your Browsers

Using Private mode in your browser is not an ideal solution. It will require you to log into WhatsApp which is not something a user would appreciate.

You can clear the cookies in your browser to restart WhatsApp Web from scratch. Follow the steps below to clear cookies in your browser. Here we will talk about the market leader Google Chrome. The process should be similar in all browsers.

Stage 1: In Google Chrome, tap the three-dot icon in the upper right corner and go to Settings. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command + to quickly navigate to the menu.

Step 2: Go to Privacy and security and select Clear browsing data.

Stage 3: Select cookies and other site data and tap the ‘Clear Data’ button at the bottom.

The process will delete all cookies and site data from the browser and now you can visit WhatsApp Web and see if it works.

5. Disable VPN on your PC

If you are using a VPN service, you may want to turn it off. WhatsApp can detect your VPN service as unauthorized users and disable the web service for you. Also, the VPN service may set your location in a country where WhatsApp is currently banned, which may also trigger WhatsApp Web to be disabled on your computer.

6. Run the Internet Troubleshooter on your PC

If you are still having problems with WhatsApp Web, you can use the Internet troubleshooter on your PC.

Stage 1: Open the Settings app on your PC and go to Update & Security.

Step 2: Scroll down to the Troubleshoot menu and select internet connections.

Stage 3: Select Run the troubleshooter.

Step 4: Tap on ‘Help me connect to a specific web page’ from the menu below.

Step 5: Enter the WhatsApp Web URL in the box and it will let you know the cause of the problem.

7. Check WhatsApp Status

The WhatsApp Web problem may be on WhatsApp’s side, not yours. You can visit the Downdetector webpage and check if the WhatsApp servers are working properly. If there are problems on the WhatsApp side, you can do nothing but wait for their fix.

Restore WhatsApp Web

WhatsApp Web has become an integral part of many in today’s Work From Home era. You can quickly install it in your browser and start without checking the phone for WhatsApp. If you have a problem with the installation, check the solutions above to fix the problem.

Next: Do you know that you can add new contacts to WhatsApp using WhatsApp Web? Read the post below to learn how to do this.