How to Fix WhatsApp Web Not Working Issue (17 Quick Fixes)

If you are a Whatsapp user and love to stay connected with your friends or family through the app, then you might be aware of its Whatsapp Web feature. The company’s official feature helps you access the app from any browser on your desktop or laptop.

However, if something goes wrong, it gives you a bad time! Some users have reported that their Whatsapp Web is not working on chrome or doesn’t load on Firefox. In this article, we’ll explain some quick fixes for this problem on your Windows computer and get back to using the app again.

17 Ways To Fix WhatsApp Web Not Working Issue

1. Make Sure WhatsApp Works on Your Phone

Before you get started with the Whatsapp Web issue fix, make sure it is working on your phone. You first need to try switching between your phone and computer. If the app works on your phone but not your computer, you need to check for problems with the browser or computer. If it doesn’t work at all, check our solutions to fix WhatsApp not working issue on smartphones.

2. Check Your Computer Network Connection

Sometimes, problems with Whatsapp Web are caused by a faulty network connection. If you are using your computer at a public place (like a library or a mall) and have just switched between networks, try rebooting your device and reconnecting it to the new network.

3. Check If WhatsApp Server is Down

If WhatsApp Web is not working, then you can check if WhatsApp is down for everyone or just you. To do so, go to DownDetector.com and check the status. If it’s down for everyone, then there’s nothing you can do now. However, if nothing is unusual at the server end, the problem will be at your end. To troubleshoot the issue, follow the other solutions mentioned below.

4. Turn Off VPN on Your PC

VPNs are great for privacy, but they might interfere with WhatsApp Web, and WhatsApp may recognize your VPN IP address and an unauthorized user and blocks you from using the account. If you are using a VPN on your PC, try to disable it temporarily and check if the issue is resolved. Once you have finished using WhatsApp on your PC, you can enable it again.

5. Reactivate The WhatsApp Web

In certain situations, all you need to solve the issues is to log out of your PC from your phone or browser and reconnect by scanning the QR code. If the previous session was broken for some reason, doing a new login can help. To do so, use these steps:

• Visit web.whatsapp.com in a browser on your PC.
• Once it loads, click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner on the left pane and select Log out. You can log out from your phone if it doesn’t even load.
• Now open the WhatsApp app on your phone, tap on the three-dot menu at the top right corner and select Linked devices.
• Next, tap on LINK A DEVICE and scan the QR code displayed on your PC.
• You’ll now log in to WhatsApp Web, which should work correctly.

6. Check Your Browser Compatibility

Since not all browsers can run WhatsApp Web, make sure you’re using one of the ones that do: Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. Browsers such as Internet Explorer and Vivaldi are old and may not be fully compatible with WhatsApp’s web version.

7. Try Incognito Mode in Your Browser

Generally, browsers do collect cookies and other data to improve your browsing experience, but this data can occasionally cause problems with the sites and web apps you use. And luckily, these issues will only arise when you use the standard browsing window.

To avoid cookies and cached data issues, you need to use an incognito window (or private window) on your browser. For this, press SHIFT+CTRL+N in Chrome and SHIFT+CTRL+P in Firefox. If you prefer neither of the browsers, still you will have an equivalent mode that you can use to prevent your browsing data from registering in the browser.

8. Clear Browsing Data in Your Browser

Though incognito mode is beneficial to get our job done, it only works until to close the window. After that, you will need to log in again with the QR code. But if you wish to keep logged in for a long time without causing any issues, you’ll need another solution.

The browsing data accumulated in your browser can sometimes cause issues with the websites you visit. So clearing these data, including cookies and cache, may solve the problems. To clear data on Google Chrome, follow these steps:

• Click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner and choose Settings.
• Select Privacy and security on the left pane of the window and choose Clear browsing data.
• Now, in the Basic tab, ensure you are selected All time as time rang and check the box near Cookies and other site data.
• Click on the Clear data button at the bottom.

9. Reset and Clean Up Your Browser

If clearing your browsing data didn’t solve your issue, the next fix to try is to reset and clean up your browser thoroughly. You can easily do this in the Google Chrome browser and bring back the default settings. Follow these steps to reset your browser.

• Go to Settings and click on the Reset and clean up tab on the left pane.
• Now, click on Restore settings to their original defaults option.
• Click on Reset settings.

10. Update Your Browser to a Stable Version

Like any other software, your browser may run a beta or an unstable version. This could be causing the issue so update your browser to the most stable version.

If you’re using Google Chrome, you can update it to the latest version by following these steps:

• Open Google Chrome and go to Settings.
• Scroll down and click on the About tab.
• Click on Update.

11. Tweak Your Firewall or Network Settings

One of the possible reasons why WhatsApp Web is not working on your computer is because your firewall or network settings prevent the loading of the WhatsApp website (web app). So you’ll need to reach out to your network administrator and ask him to whitelist the following domain names so that they will be unblocked on your network.

• web.whatsapp.com
• *.web.whatsapp.com
• *.whatsapp.net

12. Check and Disable Interfering Chrome Extensions

If you have any third-party extensions installed in Chrome or Firefox browser, you should disable them temporarily to check if any of them is interfering with WhatsApp Web. To do so, click the three dots > More tools > Extensions.

From here, look for suspicious extensions and disable them by clicking on them. If you can’t find any, disable one at a time and try connecting to WhatsApp Web again. This way, you can find which one is the culprit and disable it permanently.

13. Change User Agent in Google Chrome

Changing the User-Agent in the Chrome browser is another method that worked for us. The User-Agent recognizes the browser, its version, the operating system, etc. If anything remains faulty in these, you can get rid of it by changing the User-Agent string. Here’s how to do that.

• Open Google Chrome and open the DevTools window by pressing F12.
• In the window, click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner.
• Click on More tools > Network conditions.
• You can now see User agent in the bottom tab then appears.
• Uncheck Use browser default option and then choose Custom.
•  From the drop-down list, select Chrome-Windows.
• Finally restart Chrome and try accessing WhatsApp Web again.

14. Check Your Antivirus Configuration

If you use an antivirus on your computer, then make sure you have allowed access to WhatsApp Web. To troubleshoot this, disable the antivirus for a few minutes and check if you can access WhatsApp Web. If it works, then the antivirus is the culprit. In this case, you need to check for faulty configurations in the program and correct them to allow access to WhatsApp Web permanently. Don’t forget to reactivate the antivirus once done.

15. Use WhatsApp With an Android Emulator

Another great method to fix the issue is to use an Android emulator on your PC to use WhatsApp. For this, LDPlayer is an excellent option to try. It employs virtualization technologies to run Android OS on your computer. With LDPlayer, you can install WhatsApp from LD Store or Google Play Store and use it on your PC without any issues.

16. Use the Internet Connections Troubleshooter

If you still face difficulties using WhatsApp on your PC, you can use the internet troubleshooter app in your system to find out the issue.

• Go to Settings > Update & security > Troubleshoot (or click to open Troubleshoot directly).
• Click on Additional troubleshooters.
• Click Internet connections and then Run the troubleshooter.
• In the troubleshooter window, select Help me connect to a specific web page.
• Now, enter https://web.whatsapp.com/ and click Next.
• Once you run this, the troubleshooter will tell you what’s the cause of your problem.
• Finally, take the required action that the troubleshooter suggests.

17. Zoom in the WhatsApp Web Page to Scan QR Code

This method is for users with a low-resolution camera on their phones. Users need to scan the QR code on their phone to use WhatsApp Web, and low-quality cameras cannot capture the QR code always.

If this is the case, you only need to zoom in on the WhatsApp Web page and scan with your phone camera. You can simultaneously press CRTL and + buttons on your keyboard to zoom in on the web page.

No More WhatsApp Web Issues

Hopefully, one or more of the above solutions will help you fix the WhatsApp Web not working issue on your computer. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Moreover, if you know any other solutions we haven’t covered here, kindly let us know, and we’ll try to update the article with your solution.