Slow WhatsApp on the phone: what to do

WhatsApp is so important to many users that, as soon as it starts to slow down or show signs of blocking, panic immediately sets in to understand what is wrong and why our messages are being invited or received so slowly. We don’t have to worry! Like any phone app, WhatApp can also suffer from small slowdowns or blocks, you just need to know what to do in the case so as to intervene quickly and restore the functioning of the app in a few seconds.
In this guide we will show you what to do if we find ourselves with slow WhatsApp on your phone, so as to make it work again in any case (even if it is blocked or has not received any messages for a few minutes).
The steps described in the guide can be applied to both the Android version of WhatsApp and the iPhone version.

READ ALSO: What to do if Whatsapp does not work, does not send or receive and does not connect

WhatsApp becomes slow

By following all the steps recommended in the following chapters we will solve over 90% of the slowness or blocking problems that we can encounter when using WhatsApp on our smartphone.

Check the network connection

Probably the problem is not even the WhatsApp app itself, but our phone’s Internet connection, which may be too slow to allow the exchange of messages. To find out, let’s start the browser on our device and connect to the Fast.com site, so as to launch a quick speedtest. If we get one speed less than 2 Mega, WhatsApp (but also the other phone apps) will be strongly slowing down in the management of messages and in the sending / receiving of multimedia contents (photos, videos, GIFs etc.).

If the Wi-Fi is too slow, we try to turn off this connection and use only the data connection, especially if we have LTE coverage. Conversely, if the data connection goes too slow (perhaps because we are in an area with poor coverage or with a 2G / 3G signal), we look for a fast Wi-Fi network nearby, perhaps using the App to find free Wifi and free wireless networks on the map.

Do we want to use an app to run the network speed test? In this case we advise you to read our guide to App for speedtesting from smartphones.

Check for updates

The problem of slowing down WhatsApp is not always the fault of the network to which we are connected: just skip one or two app updates to run into slowdowns, especially if we receive new content not managed by the old versions of the messaging app.
To fix it quickly, we update the app by opening the Google Play Store (on Android) or the App Store (on iPhone) and looking for the app WhatsApp, so as to immediately view the presence of any updates.

On the app presentation screen, just press on Refresh to update WhatsApp. On Android we can update the app manually, by loading the WhatsApp APK and installing it on the phone, as seen in our guide Download APK of Android apps and get updates without Google Play.

Close and reopen the app

If none of the previous methods worked, we can also simply try closing and reopening the app, so as to restart the process and solve some problems related to the temporary cache. To close the app on Android, simply press and hold the key Home or swipe from the bottom to the center of the screen (holding down the last button for 2 seconds), so you can view all the open apps and close the WhatsApp one (with a swipe to the right or left).
If we have an iPhone, all we have to do is press the button twice Home or swipe from the bottom to the center of the screen (holding down at the last for 2 seconds), then swipe upwards from the WhatsApp app.

Once the app is closed, simply reopen it by pressing the WhatsApp icon in the homescreen, in the Android drawer or inside the iPhone folder where we placed it.

Clear the app cache

For the biggest problems of WhatsApp we will have to proceed with clearing the cache of the app, so as to remove the data that slow it down.
On Android, let’s take the path Settings -> Applications, press on the WhatsApp app then use the button Clear cache or the voice Empty the cache.

On the iPhone, we can’t just clear the cache of an app, we can only uninstall the entire app. Still on the subject of cache and space recovery occupied by WhatsApp, we can also read our guide on how Free up space in Whatsapp and clean up storage usage.

Uninstall the app and reinstall it

As a last resort we can try to remove the app from the phone and reinstall it, so as to solve any latent problems that cannot be solved with the methods seen so far. Before uninstalling the app we perform a backup of our WhatsApp chats, then we proceed to remove the app based on the system in use. On Android we open the Play Store, we look for “WhatsApp“in the search bar then press the button Uninstall.
On the iPhone instead we will have to press and hold the app icon, select Change your home screen then press on the icon in the shape of X next to the WhatsApp app; alternatively we can open the app Settings, take us to the menu General, open the iPhone Space menu, press on the item WhatsApp and finally press on the voice Delete app.

After deleting the app, we can reinstall it by opening the respective Stores and searching again WhatsApp, so as to proceed with its installation and restore the backup previously carried out.

Conclusions

If WhatsApp is slow, freezes or does not send messages correctly, just keep in mind the procedures described in the chapters above to quickly restore the functionality of the most famous messaging app in the world, so you can immediately chat with our friends or relatives.

We remind you that the slowdowns may also be due to the running out of space on the device, especially if we share many photos and videos; in this case we advise you to read our guides on how Free up Android space on internal memory and SD card and how Free up space on iPhone if insufficient.

READ ALSO: Improve Whatsapp with apps that add features to the chat