Alert: Be Cautious of WhatsApp Link That May Cause App to Shut Down
Android WhatsApp users should exercise caution as a seemingly harmless link is making rounds on both individual and group chats, which can lead to the app crashing. According to Android Police, opening a chat that contains the problematic link, such as wa.me/settings, can trigger the crash. While the link typically redirects users to WhatsApp’s settings, it is currently causing the Android version of the app to crash, as confirmed by Security Researcher Mayur Pandya on Twitter.
WhatsApp Business users are also affected by the bug. The report states that when you open a chat with the said link, it triggers a crash. However, the application will continue to operate normally during the restart unless the specified thread is used again.
However, this is not the first time such an incident has been reported. In addition to the outage, a couple of years ago a single pixel wallpaper had the ability to instantly crash an app.
What WhatsApp users should do
“Do not send this message (http://w.me/settings) to anyone chatting, otherwise WhatsApp will crash,” says security researcher Pandya Mayur. Fortunately, this bug only affected Android devices, which means iPhone users and the web are safe from it. If you have already sent a link containing a message, there is another solution to overcome this error!
The researcher suggested that you can use the WhatsApp web or desktop app to delete this message from the chat and then use the app without crashing. This seems to be a temporary solution until WhatsApp fixes the issue.
WhatsApp: Online security measures
- You should be careful when opening this link. If you come across this link, it’s best not to click on it.
- However, if it seems important, a cautious approach would be to copy the link and check it separately.
- Updating your phone with antivirus apps can also protect you from malware.
