WhatsApp Version 'Obsolete' Error Hits Some Users in India, Company Responds

WhatsApp has been hit with a version 'obsolete' error. Some WhatsApp users in India have complained about a bug that prevents them from using the Facebook-owned messaging app, with the app claiming the version being used is 'obsolete'. When a few WhatsApp users took to Twitter to report the issue, several people chimed in to say they were facing the same problem. Meanwhile, WhatsApp has acknowledged the bug and said it is working to fix it.

The WhatsApp issue was discovered on January 13, as some Twitter users posted screenshots which read as: "This version of WhatsApp became obsolete on 13 Jan 2018. Please go to the Google Play Store to download the latest version." Notably, some users even tried to update the app but to no avail. Instead, Google Play stated that the app is up-to-date. Some reported that even after deleting and re-installing the app did not fix the problem and WhatsApp was showing the same message. Interestingly, for some WhatsApp Beta testers, the app also showed the message 'Leave testing program'. Additionally, a user said even the Web version of WhatsApp was unable to scan the QR code to log in.

In a statement, WhatsApp acknowledged the issue saying: "On background, this is an issue that's being fixed. It was a problem with how our app is distributed, which is not under our control." WhatsApp had recently suffered a global outage for about an hour on New Year's eve before the problem was fixed.

Some reports claim the issue can be resolved by installing the latest (v2.18.8) WhatsApp APK from the WhatsApp site, however, we were not able to replicate either the bug or the resolution.