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WhatsApp is an online service and can go down unexpectedly at any time, day or night, which means you must have an active Internet connection to use it. 

Fire up the browser on your smartphone and try to browse to a new web page, if your connection appears to be working, move on to the next tip.

If you can’t get online at all, there are several things you can try. If you’re using Wi-Fi, first try toggling the connection on and off, or going into and then exiting from Flight Mode. Alternatively, you can try restarting your phone.

Also make sure your phone isn’t dropping the Wi-Fi connection when it goes to sleep (go to Settings, Wi-Fi, choose Advanced from the Options menu, then ensure ‘Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep’ is set to Always).

If you’re sure the broadband service itself is not down, you could also try restarting your wireless router.

If you’re using mobile data then check your mobile data connection is not turned off in the Settings menu, and that you have sufficient signal.

You should also check you haven’t restricted background data usage for WhatsApp in the Data Usage menu, and that your APN settings are correctly configured. If you can use WhatsApp over Wi-Fi but not your mobile connection, it’s likely that the APN settings are not configured to allow non-web traffic – check with your mobile operator.

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Finally, check that you have not overstepped your mobile data limit and if after trying the above and still your WhatsApp didn’t work, try the below options:

Update WhatsApp

WhatsApp gets new features all the time, which translates to a fair amount of app updates. Sometimes WhatsApp will not work unless you are running the latest version, and this is certainly the case if you have side loaded the app on to a tablet or other Android device for which it is not available in Google Play.

On an Android phone you should check for app updates by opening Google Play, tapping the three lines at the top left and choosing My apps, then checking the Installed tab for available updates.

On an iPhone open the App Store and tap the Updates icon at the bottom right of the screen. WhatsApp recommends also ensuring you are running the latest version of iOS.

Uninstall and reinstall the app

A final resort is to uninstall and then reinstall a fresh copy of WhatsApp.

When you reinstall WhatsApp it will automatically search Google Drive for a backed up copy of your conversations, so when it finds your backup allow it to restore it.