Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL; DR
- If you send a short URL to someone, it will cause a WhatsApp crash loop on Android.
- The URL is “wa.me/settings”, which normally takes you to the WhatsApp settings page.
- The crash loop occurs every time you open the affected chat. Deleting that message is the only solution for now.
WhatsApp being the most popular messaging service worldwide, one can imagine the number of URLs sent and received on the platform every day. But one URL seems to be wreaking havoc on the Android version of WhatsApp.
As seen first Brute Bee on Twitter and confirmed by Android Authority., sending the URL “wa.me/settings” causes a WhatsApp crash cycle. It appears to be an issue only with the Android version of the app, but it appears to affect both the consumer and business versions. The device we tested this on was running version 2.23.10.77, although other versions may also be affected.
Normally “wa.me/settings” is linked to WhatsApp settings. However, with this error it completely crashes the app. On restart, things work normally, but if you try to access the chat again, it starts a crash cycle. This can be repeated many times. Fortunately, it doesn’t affect any chat, so you can avoid the crash cycle by not reopening that particular chat.
The easiest solution to solve the problem is to use WhatsApp on the web – which is not affected by the bug – and delete the message with a URL. This will bring things back to normal.
Hopefully, Meta will fix this WhatsApp crash cycle soon. Until then, the previously mentioned solution is your best solution if you find yourself affected.
