Why Your WhatsApp Messages Aren't Sending (And What You Can Do To Fix It)

Thanks to its billions-strong popularity, WhatsApp has earned its reputation as the world's most-used internet messaging application. It has become an integral part of daily life for scores of users worldwide, and is of the latest available data, WhatsApp has over 2.5 billion monthly active users, accounting for more than a quarter of the world's population. The platform is used to share more than 100 billion messages on a daily basis.

While WhatsApp is not prone to significant outages, it's not immune to occasional connectivity issues. Per data from Downdetector — a service that tracks outages across the internet — WhatsApp has only had an average of one outage per month in the past year. However, when WhatsApp does encounter an outage, its effects are often amplified thanks to the sheer popularity of the app.

That being said, there are some occasions when you may not be able to send (or receive) WhatsApp Messages even when there is no apparent WhatsApp outage. In case you're encountering such issues with WhatsApp on your phone, there are a few things you can do to try and fix the problem.

Given that you've established that your inability to send or receive WhatsApp messages isn't connected to a widespread outage, you need to ensure a few things on your end.

The first thing to check is whether you have stable, reliable internet connectivity. Non-functional internet connectivity is among the top reasons for WhatsApp message delivery and reception failures. Thankfully, checking for poor/non-functional internet connectivity is quick and easy. You can do this by opening up a new webpage or doing a simple Google search. If these features are up to snuff, we can establish that Internet connectivity isn't the reason behind your WhatsApp conundrum.

Often, WhatsApp connectivity issues could also be caused by flaky wireless connections and poor data connectivity. If you suspect such an issue, it's advisable to move closer to your router and try to see if things get better. If that doesn't help, a simple router restart may also solve the issue. If you're using mobile data, moving to an area with better mobile network coverage would be advisable.

Meta — the company behind WhatsApp — is known to release frequent updates for the chat app with bug fixes, performance, and feature improvements. If you're not using the latest version of the app and have chosen to turn off auto updates on your smartphone, the WhatsApp version on your phone may become obsolete over time. This may render WhatsApp completely non-functional.

In case you have established that Internet connectivity isn't a reason for WhatsApp not working on your phone, the next logical step is to ensure that you update WhatsApp on your device to the latest version. You can do this on Android phones by going to the Google Play Store, searching for WhatsApp, and tapping the "Update" option. iOS users need to open the App Store, tap their profile icon, and scroll to see the 'pending updates' option. If WhatsApp is in that list, tap the update button next to the app icon.

To ensure that you don't face a similar issue in the future, you can also check the auto-update option, which will ensure that WhatsApp automatically graduates to a new version every time Meta releases an update. Besides updating WhatsApp, it is also important to check the amount of free storage space on your phone memory. It has been observed that a lack of storage space on your phone can, at times, hinder WhatsApp's ability to send and receive messages and media files.

This one may sound a bit sad, but WhatsApp does give users the option to block individual contacts. In case you seem to be facing trouble reaching out to a single contact on WhatsApp, there are several possibilities. It could be that the person is out of internet coverage or range, meaning that they will be unable to send or receive messages. On the other hand, it could be that they are simply not interested in communicating with you anymore.

In case you're blocked by a WhatsApp user, you will no longer be able to send them messages. If you attempt to send them a message, you will never see a blue-colored "read receipt" check mark underneath your sent message. In some cases, some contacts may also deactivated their WhatsApp account, after which you cannot communicate with them using the tool.

If you have ascertained that none of the aforementioned issues are behind you being unable to send or receive WhatsApp messages, it's time to look elsewhere. Before you take these steps, it would be a good idea to use the "Backup" option on WhatsApp so that you can recover your existing WhatsApp data later.

The first option is clearing WhatsApp's cache by entering your phone settings. On Android phones, this option is usually found within Settings > Apps. Once within the Apps menu, you must select WhatsApp and tap the "Storage and data" option. Here, you will see the option to clear cache and clear storage. Tap the clear cache option first and check whether that resolves the issue. If that doesn't work, you may try the "clear storage" option. But make sure your WhatsApp backup is complete before you do this. For iPhone, you'd have to uninstall and reinstall the app. That's also the option to pursue on Android if clearing cache or storage doesn't work.

If reinstallation doesn't fix your issue, you are left with no option but to contact WhatsApp Support directly with your problem.