WhatsApp immediately crashing upon opening for many iPhone users

WhatsApp users across the globe are reporting that the app now crashes upon opening, preventing users from responding to messages or accessing contact lists.

The problem has been reported to occur on WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business, and even the WhatsApp beta available through TestFlight

Many users have reported the issue on Twitter, and Downdetector now shows a significant increase in users self-reporting problems with the app.

#whatsapp #down #ios #crash pic.twitter.com/R0xToXFnO1
— Carlos (@Carlosz_Reyes) December 14, 2021

Initially, users suspected that the problem was related to Tuesday's iOS 15.2 update, but many users have reported the issue occurring on older versions of the operating system as well.

crash isn't specific to iOS 15.2. I'm still on 15.1.1 and it's crashing here too
— Vald (@_gfred) December 14, 2021

AppleInsider could not reproduce the crash upon opening and can currently access the current version of WhatsApp on iOS 15.2, suggesting that the issue may be related to Facebook's servers, rather than the app itself.

WhatsApp has not acknowledged the issue at this time.

6 Comments

robin huber 4025 comments · 22 Years

About 2 years ago

So is Research app, the one that allows you to participate in medical research studies via your iPhone and one AppleWatch.

jkichline 1369 comments · 14 Years

It’s likely an iOS/iPadOS issue abs not actually crashing, rather iOS devices to terminate the app for doing something in the background and iOS doesn’t approve and decides to shut it down. We’ve been fighting this with iOS 15 for a while.

Anilu_777 577 comments · 8 Years

Everything good here on iOS 15.2 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

xiao-zhi 113 comments · 13 Years

Feature not a bug.

dewme 5738 comments · 10 Years

The Amazon Alexa app has been doing something similar on iOS and iPadOS for a while now. The first time I launch the app it immediately closes and goes into the background. It looks like a crash but it can be opened from the list of background apps. If I terminate it completely and relaunch from scratch a second time it opens correctly in the foreground. There’s always something off with new versions of software.