WhatsApp throwing blank screen on your iPhone? You aren't alone

Some WhatsApp users seem to be facing a weird issue on their iPhones. They say the app, when launched, greets them with a blank screen immediately or after a few steps. As per the reports I have seen, the blank screen could be black or white in color. Following is an example shared by an affected user on Reddit showing white screen problem:

And here’s one showing black screen issue:

I went through many such complaints, and the trend I am seeing is, this blank screen problem popped up for users after they installed or re-installed WhatsApp on iPhone for some reason or the other. I couldn’t find any report wherein the complainant said the black or white screen issue happened with their already-installed WhatsApp app.

This led me to verify the iOS versions that WhatsApp is currently compatible with. And I found this official WhatsApp page which says the app is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 15.1 and newer. Then I again went back to the user discussions on this problem, and found that a lot of complainants have confirmed they are running iOS 15.8 or iOS 15.8.4 to be precise.

So, things aren’t exactly lining up.

Digging further on the matter, I came across this article from December last year, which says that starting May 05, WhatsApp was to drop support for the following three devices completely: iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus, regardless of the iOS version they’re running. And when I again combed through the recent complaints I am seeing, I found many iPhone 6 series users complaining about the blank screen.

On another official WhatsApp page, the company clearly says:

We stop supporting older devices and operating systems on an ongoing basis

So, it’s safe to say that users of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5s (and other unsupported devices) shouldn’t hold their breath hoping for any fix to this issue. However, what’s confusing is that some users of iPhone models still supported by WhatsApp (and running compatible iOS versions) are also facing the same issue. Following are some reports:

I thought my iPhone 7 Plus is done But I guess I am not the only one facing this issue…I still have a white screen and I still get notifications popping

I had the same issue too. I have an iPhone 7 with IOS v15.8.4. From the App store, it states that the WhatsApp app requires iOS 15.1 or later (Requires iOS 15.1 or later). I was surprised that it showed a blank white screen. I tried deleting and reinstalling the app, but it didn’t work too

Iphone 7 – 15.8.4 IOS – Same problem. Have tried Cleaning cache, redownloading it, swapping from phone to phone, turning off all the notifications. So far nothing.

It’s clearly difficult to say what exactly is going on – it could be an expected behavior for unsupported devices and iOS versions, while a bug for supported ones. However, my guess is as good as yours at the moment.

Now let’s talk about workarounds. Did anyone come up with any kind of workaround? Well, while the answer is yes, it’s not a neat one. I’ll share it anyway, though. Multiple users said WhatsApp Business works for them. Following are their comments:

Tried WhatsApp Business. It worked for me. It seems to work the same but just with some annoying “business” addons.

it worked for me after ripping my hair out for a while trying everything i could, (including swapping to whatsapp business which DELETES all your data unprompted unless you back it up beforehand)

That’s it for now. In case you have anything to add on, feel free to drop a comment at the bottom of this page. Thanks in advance.