Steps to Fix WhatsApp Notifications Not Appearing on Your Phone

WhatsApp is one of the most popular and widely used messaging applications in the world, used in around 180 countries. In the first quarter of 2023, the number of active users reached approximately 2 billion monthly users. Over the years, the WhatsApp application has succeeded in facilitating communication between users and their family, friends, colleagues, and service providers, providing an easier way to communicate and stay up to date with the latest products and services.

However, relying on WhatsApp for communication can have negative implications. Not receiving notifications on time can disrupt our daily activities. Imagine not being able to read an important message from your work manager because your phone did not alert you when the message arrived. Many users face the problem of missing notifications, which can be caused by internet connection failures or app settings issues. In the following, we will explore the main reasons for this issue and how to fix it on both Android and iPhone devices.

There are several reasons that may lead to not receiving notifications from the WhatsApp application on smartphones, such as changes in app settings related to notifications and alerts, mistakenly restricting some permissions granted to the app by the phone, or simply a lack of internet connection. An internet connection is necessary to receive app notifications. Activating certain modes on the phone, such as power-saving mode or do not disturb mode, may also disable notifications from WhatsApp and other messaging apps.

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The strategy to fix the issue of not receiving WhatsApp notifications on smartphones simply involves addressing all possible causes of the problem. This can be done by following a series of steps as outlined below:

WhatsApp requires a stable internet connection to receive notifications and messages instantly like any other messaging app. Therefore, the first step in troubleshooting the issue of not receiving app notifications is to check the internet connection.

One way to check for an internet connection is to open a web browser on your phone and visit any website. If the website does not load, there may be an issue with the internet connection, and you will need to troubleshoot the reasons for the connection failure. If you are using a Wi-Fi network, you may need to test the internet connection on another device to see if the Wi-Fi network is functioning well on other devices.

You may also need to switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data to rule out certain reasons for an internet connection loss related to phone or router settings or ISP issues.

If, after completing the first step, you find that the issue of not receiving WhatsApp notifications is not due to an internet connection problem, you should proceed to the next step. A simple step with great importance is to reboot the phone. Sometimes, minor glitches occur during phone usage, which may result in notification issues. In such cases, a simple restart of the device may be sufficient to fix these glitches and resolve the problem.

Most phones can be restarted by holding down the power button and then selecting the “Power off” option that appears on the screen, waiting a few seconds before pressing the power button again to turn it back on.

After restarting the phone, you can move on to the next step, which is to check if the notification sounds for WhatsApp are enabled. You can check and enable the notification sounds for WhatsApp on both Android and iPhone devices by opening the WhatsApp app, going to settings from the toolbar at the bottom or the options menu (⁝) at the top left of the screen, then selecting “Notifications,” and then going to “Conversation tones” to ensure that this option is enabled. Enabling message notification sounds will help restore receiving notifications from the WhatsApp application normally.

Activating power-saving mode on phones shuts down some background apps to save battery power, which can also disable notifications from WhatsApp and other messaging apps. Disabling power-saving mode or at least exempting WhatsApp from the apps that are shut down when power-saving mode is activated is necessary to restore receiving app notifications normally.

The method to disable power-saving mode on phones varies depending on the type of phone. For Android phones, you can disable power-saving mode by opening the “Settings” app, then navigating to “Battery,” and then selecting “Battery Saver” and toggling the switch to turn it off. For iPhones, you can disable power-saving mode by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “Battery,” and then disabling the Low Power Mode option by toggling the switch.

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Enabling Do Not Disturb mode blocks all call and message notifications, reminder messages, and other app notifications, including those from WhatsApp. To resolve this issue, you must turn off Do Not Disturb mode if it’s enabled on your phone.

Disabling Do Not Disturb mode on phones depends on the type of phone. For Android phones, you can turn off Do Not Disturb mode by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “Sounds & Vibration,” then selecting “Do Not Disturb” and toggling the switch to turn it off. For iPhones, you can turn off Do Not Disturb mode by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “Do Not Disturb,” and toggling the switch to turn off Do Not Disturb mode.

WhatsApp requires permission to run in the background to continue using data and stay connected to the internet to receive updates and notifications regularly. In case the app is not granted permission to use background data, notifications will not be received unless the app is manually opened and launched. Therefore, in this step, make sure to allow WhatsApp to use background data.

You can allow WhatsApp to run automatically and use background data on Android phones by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “Apps & notifications,” and then finding the WhatsApp app in the list of apps. Once you find it, tap on the app name, then go to the “Permissions” section, and toggle the switch next to “Automatic launch” to enable it.

On iPhones, you can allow WhatsApp to use background data by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “General,” and selecting “Background App Refresh,” and toggling the switch next to WhatsApp to enable it.

WhatsApp provides customized settings to control the type of notifications received from the app. Changing any of these settings in the WhatsApp app settings can mistakenly disable the receipt of notifications from the app. Therefore, the following step focuses on resetting the app notification settings to their default state to ensure receiving app notifications again.

You can reset the app notification settings by opening WhatsApp on your phone, then tapping on the options menu (⁝) at the top left of the screen, going to “Settings,” then tapping on “Notifications.” At the top of the following screen, tap the menu button (⁝) and select “Reset notification settings” and then confirm the action by tapping “Reset.”

Clearing the cache used by WhatsApp also plays an important role in the app’s performance. Insufficient free space for the app and congestion in the cache memory may cause notification issues. In this case, clearing the cache memory on the phone is the way to fix the issue of WhatsApp notifications not showing.

For Android phones, you can clear WhatsApp app data without affecting any other data or files saved on the phone, as this feature is not available on iPhones. To do this, open the “Settings” app on your phone, then go to “Apps & notifications,” then tap on “Manage apps,” and start looking for the WhatsApp app. Once you find it, tap on the app storage, then tap “Clear cache,” and finally tap “Clear data” at the bottom of the screen.

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Resetting app preferences can also help in fixing the issue of WhatsApp notifications not showing. This process can be performed on some Android phones and does not involve deleting or uninstalling any installed apps on the phone, while the option to reset app preferences is not available on iPhones.

You can reset app preferences on Samsung phones by opening the “Settings” app, then going to “Apps” and tapping the menu button ( ⁝ ) at the top, then selecting “Reset app preferences” and confirming the action. For other Android phones, open the “Settings” app, then navigate to “System,” and select “Reset options,” then go to “Reset app preferences,” and tap the “Reset apps” button at the bottom of the screen, and finally restart the phone.

When logged into your personal account on WhatsApp’s website on a computer and simultaneously logged in on the WhatsApp application on a smartphone or tablet, WhatsApp notifications may disappear upon receipt on either of these devices. In this case, you should log out of your WhatsApp account on the computer (via WhatsApp Web) to ensure receiving all notifications on the app on your phone.

The above steps serve as a comprehensive guide for troubleshooting WhatsApp notification issues on phones. In some cases, it may not be necessary to complete all the steps to the end if you find that notifications have returned to normal after the first or sixth step, for example. It may be helpful to ask a friend to send messages to your WhatsApp account to test the appearance of app notifications after each step. However, if no similar testing method is available, it is advisable to complete all the mentioned troubleshooting steps to ensure that the problem has been resolved.