That WhatsApp It is the most used messaging app in a large part of the world, it is not new. And although it usually works without major inconveniences, that does not mean that it is free of problems. One of the most fearful among the public is the existence of messages that can block the applicationand even the phone.
This is not necessarily something new, although from time to time there is a new version which causes inconvenience. In itself, we are not talking about messages whose content is malicious or that are part of some type of cyberattack, but of a bug of WhatsApp that, when “activated”, produces a disproportionate reaction and that conflicts with the normal operation of the app.
The case that has been known in the last hours puts the message with the link in the center of the scene wa.me/channel. Sending or receiving it will generate absolutely nothing, both on our smartphone and on that of the person with whom we are talking. The “drama” begins when you click on that link.
Automatically, WhatsApp goes crazy and crashes. Some users have even reported that the freezing is not limited to the messaging service app, but also affects the rest of the device. It is worth clarifying that this behavior has been registered, for the moment, in the Android version of the client.
Why does WhatsApp lose reason for a link?
The first thing to mention is that “wa.me” links are completely normal and do not represent any danger. In fact, It is the native mode in which WhatsApp links are abbreviated to, for example, share a business phone number on a social media profile.
The problem with wa.me/channel is that this is a link that leads nowhere. When you click on it, what the application tries to do is open a channel, so it runs into two problems. The first, that this function is not yet available to the general public; the second, that the link does not indicate the name of the supposed channel to which it is trying to access.
Thus, WhatsApp enters a kind of loop trying to fulfill an order that has no destination and ends up collapsing. It is a serious problem? Clearly not. But it can end up being a waste of time until we can regain control of the courier service. Something especially annoying for those who depend on it to study or work.
What to do if the app crashes
If you tapped on links like wa.me/channel or wa.me/settings —which have also been reported as problematic— and your WhatsApp has been blocked, fear not: easily fixed.
If your mobile is updated to a recent version of Android -12 or 13-, it is most likely that the application will close automatically when the response time of the operating system is used up. In older versions of Google software, you may see a banner warning that the app is not responding and giving you the option to force close it.
You can also choose to delete all the applications that appear in the Recent section, so that any process linked to WhatsApp is closed. Or, you can even access the mobile settings and force arrest of the messaging service manually from the Applications section.
If none of this works, because your smartphone is not responding the way it should, you can choose to restart the device. When the system returns to normal, the problem will be in the past, unless you want to play a prank on a friend or family member. Anyway, because it is a bug not too complex, it wouldn’t be unusual for Meta to fix it with a future update.