WhatsApp crashing on your iPhone? You aren't the only one!

Whatsapp Message Hero (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz / iMore)

What you need to know

WhatsApp is crashing on launch for a ton of people.
While Apple released iOS 15.2 recently, people are reporting problems on older releases as well.
Both WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business are affected.

Some iPhone owners are reporting that they are unable to open WhatsApp, although not everyone appears to be impacted. The issue is affecting both WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business and it doesn't appear to be related to the recent iOS 15.2 release.

According to multiple reports, launching WhatsApp sees the app immediately crash back to the iPhone's Home screen — repeating the process simply causes the app to crash again. Some people have reported that deleting and re-installing the WhatsApp app can get things unstuck, although it isn't a fix that works for everyone.

Sama! pic.twitter.com/pWuB8nOewbSama! pic.twitter.com/pWuB8nOewb— kemal (@ikmalzri) December 15, 2021 December 15, 2021

Notably, while many of those impacted are running iOS 15.2, that doesn't seem to be the only version of iOS impacted — suggesting the problem isn't Apple's to fix and pointing the issue squarely at WhatsApp and Meta.

@WhatsApp WhatsApp for Business keep crashing? I’m on IOS15.1. Any idea what this could be?@WhatsApp WhatsApp for Business keep crashing? I’m on IOS15.1. Any idea what this could be?— Irvin Sammons (@irvinsammons) December 15, 2021 December 15, 2021

There doesn't appear to be a fix at the time of writing, something that's a big issue for people who rely on WhatsApp for communications. WhatsApp is one of the best iPhone apps at what it does, especially for those who need to talk to people who use Android devices.

WhatsApp is yet to announce any known problems but everyone has their fingers crossed that a fix is released soon. Hopefully whatever's wrong is something that can be rectified server-side without the need for a new update to hit the App Store. I've reached out to WhatsApp for a comment and will update this post as and when I receive a response.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.