WhatsApp App not linking to WhatsApp Desktop

Yes, the WhatsApp developers have not optimized their app for iOS 26 yet. In the last 5 days they’ve had 3 updates. Make sure you check daily for updates. You can also try deleting the app and downloading a new copy from the App Store.

Hey everyone

WhatsApp Beta version from Microsoft store. It works

thank you

WhatsApp developers released another update yesterday (makes about 25 updates in last 2 months) and the release notes states bug fixes and optimizations. The developers recommended deleting the current WhatsApp app and installing the new version directly from Apple App Store.

Ok so I found the ultimate and only way it will surely work. So basically if you have too many chats, when downloading recent messages, it fails and thus results in error.

So now, there are two ways to work around this :

1. If you absolutely have to keep your old chats, you will have to use the web version for now.

2. Or you can delete your old chats that aren't too important and then it will work (at least that's what happened with me).

Lucxfer wrote:

• Hello there,

I cannot get my WhatsApp (iPhone 17 Pro) to link with WhatsApp Desktop (Windows).

Every time I try, it shows an "Unexpected error" and reverts back to the first page where I have to click Get Started again.

I can successfully link to WhatsApp Web.

• I also tested with an Android phone on the same Desktop app, and that worked fine.

• I’m sure this is not an internet connection issue, as I use the same Wi-Fi connection for all devices.

• I have already tried uninstalling and reinstalling both WhatsApp on my iPhone and WhatsApp Desktop on my PC.

• I tested another laptop with WhatsApp Desktop, and my iPhone still cannot connect.

This strongly suggests the issue is specific to the combination of iPhone 17 Pro + WhatsApp Desktop.

Could you please confirm what the issue is and provide a fix or workaround?

PLEASE HELP!!

Whatsapp is META product, not Apple. Report your issue to META support.

Make sure you’ve downloaded latest version of WhatsApp. Their developers have released numerous bug fixes for their app in the past few weeks.

Here are a couple of ways to contact them -

https://faq.whatsapp.com/

https://www.whatsapp.com/contact

I’m still looking for a solution, but I’m fairly sure the issue is that WhatsApp isn’t backing up to iCloud. It hasn’t successfully backed up since I got my new phone. I’ve tried all the usual troubleshooting steps - turning iCloud/phone off and on, signing out/in of iCloud, offloading app, deleting any potentially corrupted backups, etc. Previously the backup failed instantly, but now it gets to 1% during “Preparing Backup” before failing. So at least there’s some progress…?

Hi Lucxfer.

Were you able to solve this? Same thing is happening to me and I tried all of the steps you took.

I'm also having issues with selfie camera shots taken in the WhatsApp app - they are stretching and zooming on the photo after the photo has been taken (interestingly this doesn't happen when affects are applied). It seems that there seems to be some issues with WhatsApp and iPhone 17.

Any updates on this issue? I have the exact issue, but with an iPhone 17 (not PRO or PRO MAX). Issue with WhatsApp Desktop on Windows (from Microsoft Store). I am only able to use the WhatsApp web app, but often it is inconvenient.

Not sure where to contact Meta, or more specifically, the WhatsApp team for support... Anybody?

WhatsApp is constantly issuing updates to their app to try to fix the current problems. It is not unusual to see an update from WhatsApp almost daily as their developers try to keep up.

Meta had 3 months to get it right 🙄

Same issue - have tried a few times but nothing seems to be working. Only option as of now is to use the browser version of whatsapp. That one does work

With the new update, Web Whatsapp Desktop Download is now working with Iphone 17 pro !

any update of this issue?