Why My WhatsApp Is Lagging, Slow, Not Working, Or Crashing? Here’s The Fix!

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There is no doubt that we rely on WhatsApp for the majority of our daily life conversations. With the newer release of WhatsApp updates, the app seems to crash sometimes.

If you are here then you could be are getting the error “Unfortunately WhatsApp has stopped” on your phone. What happens is sometimes when you open WhatsApp, it simply stops working and forces you out of the application.

There could be multiple reasons why your WhatsApp is not working properly or not receiving messages.

It’s not necessarily because you have a weaker device, even with the phone’s larger RAM and latest chipset might show this bug. So before you buy a new phone try some of these solutions that we have come up with.

We have mentioned a few fixes that should resolve the WhatsApp crashing issue and make your WhatsApp messaging app faster.

Note: These kinds of errors or lags are only associated with Android OS, so all the solutions mentioned here are for Android devices only. For iPhone or iOS, the steps are similar, though the exact wording is different.

Fixes For WhatsApp Slow Or Crash

Delete Messages

The reason why your WhatsApp might be lagging while opening could be too many messages. What happens is, when your WhatsApp has a lot of conversations, it takes a lot of time to process them and launch your app on time. These messages might make the app slow to connect and open.

Delete Messages To speed up WhatsApp

To deal with this problem you should start deleting some old and non-important conversations. For deleting a conversation you just long-press any contact’s conversation from the launch screen and press the Delete icon on the top. You can also select multiple conversations to delete all at once.

For groups, you can either select the specific conversation and delete the individual messages by long-pressing and tapping on the Trash icon. You can select multiple messages for deletion. Alternatively, you can delete all messages from a group at once from the same place where you can hide frequently contacted contacts.

If you want those messages you could first email the desired WhatsApp conversation or export messages to your backup storage (Google Drive for Android, iCloud for iPhone) as a text file and then delete them. This way your WhatsApp lag issue will be fixed and none of your important messages will be lost.

Recommended Read: How To Track WhatsApp Messages

Clear Cache And App Data

With so many text messages, media, and files shared over WhatsApp daily, lots of data get stored in the app. The cache is used to store frequently used information of the app, while app data stores every file and message the app contains. Clearing cache and app data can solve any kind of lag or issue you might be facing on slow WhatsApp.

To clear both of these data, follow this step-by-step process:

  1. Go to Settings on your phone.
  2. Navigate to Apps. This will open a list of all the apps that are present on your device.
  3. Look for WhatsApp on the list and tap on it.
  4. You will see an option called Storage. Select it and you will get the button for both Clear Cache and Clear Data.

Fix WhatsApp Is not working - Clear Cache

Clearing cache will delete all your saved data that is used to load the messages faster. The messages will load a little slower at first but the app will start working normally and receiving messages after a while. This is a universal approach that helps with other apps as well.

We don’t recommend you use the Clear Data option until it’s absolutely necessary. This will remove your account as well as all the files and settings associated with that account. You will have to sign in again after clearing app data so make sure you take chat backup first.

If your backup got stuck, read this post for possible solutions.

Also, remember that if you stopped a WhatsApp backup in progress, your last backup might be broken.

Recommended Read:  How To Hide WhatsApp Conversation

3. Switch Phone Off/ On
Power OFF

Often, WhatsApp also hangs because the device requires a reboot.

Like your PC and laptop, your mobile device also needs to restart from time to time. So switch off your device for a few seconds and then switch on. It will refresh your device by clearing the cache and freeing the used RAM. It doesn’t make a huge difference in your phone operation but it will definitely help to speed up your slow WhatsApp messaging app.

Note: It is recommended to restart your device once a week to prevent your phone and WhatsApp from slowing down.

4. Change SIM Cards

If you have recently switched to a new SIM card, your old account on WhatsApp might not work. WhatsApp has the policy to work with one number at a time. It confirms that by reading OTP, you need your card in the sim slot to receive OTP.

To get your old account back, you will need to use WhatsApp with your old SIM card. Otherwise, you can also register with the new number to start a new account.

Once you have completed the registration process, you can practically use WhatsApp without a SIM card as long as you have any kind of internet connection. But sometimes removing the SIM card or replacing it might cause some crash issues on WhatsApp.

5. Update Your Android And WhatsAppUpdate WhatsApp to fix slow WhatsApp

WhatsApp might crash on startup due to outdated Android or WhatsApp versions. After a while developers stop working on the older versions resulting in apps becoming unresponsive.

Go to System in Settings and look for the software update. If your software is not up to date then update it. Do the same for the WhatsApp version and update it from the Play Store.

6. Free Your RAM

When your RAM gets full due to running too many apps at the same time it causes a problem in running a few apps. Full RAM could be the reason for your WhatsApp not working properly or slowing down. Check if you are running any unnecessary apps in the background that are consuming your RAM.

Try freeing your phone’s RAM by using these Android app killers. Also, consider uninstalling heavy apps that you don’t require now. This will save you space and make your WhatsApp and phone run faster.

The RAM issue is very common on devices that have low RAM. For them, we recommend a weekly manual clean-up of junk files or use CCleaner alternative apps.

Recommended: How To Make Your Own WhatsApp Stickers

7. Uninstall And Re-install The App

If none of the above tips worked, try this method to get WhatsApp hanging issue fixed.

Uninstall WhatsApp and download a new clean version of it from the Play Store. Avoid downloading the app from the internet or from a third-party app store.

After it is installed on your phone and you are on the setup screen, try to not load the backed-up files. Loading heavy data and files may sometimes cause the app to crash. Save the important conversations as a text file on your Google Drive first if you want to.

You can also restore your WhatsApp on a different device and even switch from iPhone to Android. Here’s how to do it; and in this post, we talk about how to switch back.

Recommended: FoneMonitor Review: iPhone And Android Monitoring Solution

Resolve WhatsApp Is Not Working Issue Using These Tips

We hope the above tips helped you in resolving the “WhatsApp is not working” and “slow WhatsApp” issues on your phone.

If you are looking for more ways to make the most out of WhatsApp, take a look at our article with WhatsApp tips and tricks.

Remember you can use these methods to get rid of the slow WhatsApp problem to make it faster and more responsive in receiving messages. Also, this problem could arise with other apps installed on your phone so you could try these methods for them as well.

Share this post with your friends who might be facing the same issue.

If any of these methods worked for you, tell us in the comment section. This will benefit others to quickly resolve their slow WhatsApp messaging app issue.

About The Author

  • Akshay Thapliyal

    Akshay Thapliyal is the co-founder of TechUntold and mainly looks into strategic planning at TechUntold. He also loves writing articles on apps & problems he faces related to tech. Follow him on Twitter.

Photo of author

Akshay Thapliyal

Akshay Thapliyal is the co-founder of TechUntold and mainly looks into strategic planning at TechUntold. He also loves writing articles on apps & problems he faces related to tech. Follow him on Twitter.

49 thoughts on “Why My WhatsApp Is Lagging, Slow, Not Working, Or Crashing? Here’s The Fix!”

  1. Hi, I have recently upgraded to a stronger phone due to this problem with no improvement. I have deleted the app cache, I have uninstalled and reinstalled it, I have updated it, and I have deleted many’ many old conversatoins and groups but the problem persists: any time I try to hit “forward” to a message, or look for a contact via search, it can take up to 25 seconds (!!!) to get results. any ideas to help will be greatly appreciated!!

    Reply
  2. after following all of these, congratulations ! all my new messages from 2 Am until now, is GONE. can never be retrieved again. Sure I have backups. but backups only have messages until 2am last morning.

    and… whatsapp still slow loading when i want to forward something, chat or 1 picture, stuck at Forward to screen, before showing list of names, only loading logo looping in the middle and sometimes upper right. sometimes need 20 minutes before list of names which i can choose to forward to my chat, but mostly even after 30 minutes still loading. this happens every time i want to forward message. is not happen else where. opening new or old message never loading. completely norma. Only when forward to the name list is very long to show.

    Reply
  3. Hi there I’m using watts app on Android when I make a video call no one can hear me properly I’m stuttering. My Internet signal is good . So it can’t be that

    Reply
  4. Hi Dear Friend,
    My What’s App, FaceBook is working is very slow, but other apps like youtube is working to much faster on WI-Fi. I am using fibre optic broadband services with 5Mbps plan.
    Could you please help me to improve performance of What’s App and FaceBook.
    Thanks In Advance.

    Reply
  5. hi i am using samsung on7 mobile.. in my mobile whatsapp is working but it will taking long time to receive and send msg. give me a suggestion to resolve this problem.

    Reply
  6. Hi, I am using Samsung J2. I m not getting notifications on whatsaap when my screen is off. I only get notification when I open the whatsapp app. What should I do?

    Reply
  7. im using ag chrome selfie.there is nothing i didn’t tried to fix it it says unfortunately whatsapp has been stopped.its the 14th day day now.what puzzles me is that my phone has no uninstall as i bought my phone with this whatsap. what to do?

    Reply
  8. My whatsApp is among the default Apps on my phone but when installing it, it tells me am having a problem with that version but I should download the latest version, when I download the latest version and am installing it, it tells me I already have the App on my phone.I need your help

    Reply
    • Hello Jay, as WhatsApp is default app on your device it simply cannot be uninstalled. For this you have to root the device, after that you can uninstall the current WhatsApp version and install a new one.

      Reply
  9. Hii , i am using samsung galaxy grand prime SMG531F……. i m not getting notifications of whatsaap when my screen is off
    .. what should i do ???

    Reply
    • Hi Ganesh, you can try changing APN of your network. On your device navigate to Settings->Mobile Network/Connection settings and look for New APN. You can ask the APN setting from your network provider.

      Reply
      • Hi, i am using whats app on my micromax canvas Fire 2 over an year.but Today, i have lost my all chat history.. Now the app also doesn’t work..it shown internal storage full..but i check my internal storage, it isn’t full. I also clear the data, i have also a lot of space on RAM..i also uninstall & reinstall the app..but the same problem occured..i have tired..please give me any solution on my email
        Thanking you

        Reply
        • Hi Sankha, if you can factory reset your phone than it will work for you. If you don’t want to factory reset, try uninstalling few apps from your device that are unnecessary. After that try installing WhatsApp on your device, it might work.

          Reply
  10. Hi, I have an iPhone 6plus, the latest version of watsapp, 4G full connection but watsapp is so slow. It shows 1 tick for a very long time please help me. If I delete the app will the message go away even though it hasnt been delivered?

    Reply
  11. For this I would suggest you to check data usage settings .
    Open Device (System)Settings-> Data Usage(might be under More options, depends upon OS versions) -> Auto-Sync Data , It must be ENABLED .

    Reply
  12. Hi

    I am not able to use whatsapp because of High Volume of Images daily and texting.

    How I can take the backup of the contents. Is there different ways to take backup which can again be easy to retrive. I wish to know new ways for the backup. Please contact me on email.

    Thanks

    Reply
      • Hi dear,
        Whatsapp I use for the Heavy Business images. And 300-500 images per day we transfer with text details with the same. It can be possible to Control the images and text in a way that we can easy access later on. I unable to take back up. Also blue stack is heavy software which I have used earlier but uninstalled. I am using whatsapp on Whatschrome a Chrome unofficial whatsapp.

        If we can get a better backup system will be more beneficial. Whatsapp will not hang up daily.

        Backup the whatsapp by Date range can be advantageous.

        Please mail me.

        Reply
  13. Hi
    I am using s3 GTI9300 when ever I start whatsapp it start looking for backup when ever I click on skip backup it says unfortunately whatsapp has stoped and if I try to backup then also it says the same thing
    I have tried to uninstall the app clearing data also didnt worked for me
    Please help me

    Reply
  14. Hi I’m using nokia asha mobile andn in mobile WhatsApp is not opening so what should I do now as I reset my mobile and I’m unable to uninstall the WhatsApp so plz help me

    Reply
  15. Hi, I have an iPhone upgraded to latest IOS version, also I have plenty of storage left in my memory, I deleted my cache, Ram, I restarted my iPhone, I deleted the app and downloaded it again over 10 times, I did all the solutions listed in this page, and it still seems to kind of freeze in a certain conversation with just ONE contact, and it gets worst when this contact is online or is messaging me back when I’m online. This started to happen today when I upgraded to latest WhatsApp version, but tried to install an old one and it won’t allow it.

    Reply
  16. Hi
    I am using lennovo s850 android mobile.
    When I am using whatsapp up my data is very slow for sending and receiving msgs. At the same time if use any another things like browsing and download s. I am getting good speed . I have checked this so many times .. Now I am using WhatsApp with background downloads for getting speed.
    Kindly suggest..
    Thanking you .

    Reply
    • Hi Srikanth,

      For this I would suggest you to check data usage settings for WhatsApp.
      Open Device Settings-> Data Usage(might be under More options, depends upon OS versions) -> Scroll down and look for WhatsApp and tap on it.
      Next you will see “Restrict app background data”. Make sure this is off for WhatsApp app.
      Hope this will resolve your issue, if not do repeat the same procedure for Google Services.

      Reply
  17. Hi, my what’s app suddenly started working very slow .. I have uninstalled and started to reinstall but re installation also taking very long time kindly let me know I m using iphone5

    Reply
  18. Same here. After they included the vooce suffort whatsapp started to work really bad, hamging, black screen for several seconds before a chat is open, really annoying. I contacted whatsapp but go not reply. I dont have ram issues or cpu i got a thl 5000. Telegram runs 100 times faster than whatsapp here. Sad.

    Reply
  19. hi i am using samsung GT s7562 . whats app always says not responding wait, close or report.
    i have tried reinstalling whats app but still problem persists. it is very slow. I often clear ram and restart.but every now and then its the same.

    Reply
    • Hi Gautam, even after trying the above tips it does not solves your problem then I would suggest you to reinstall WhatsApp and don’t restore the backup. If you are getting this issue after installing a particular app then just try to uninstall that app. Do let me know if it solves your problem.

      Reply
  20. i hav done all the above told measures inspite of that my watsapp says unfortunately stopped working hence suggest me a way

    Reply

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