For three hours on January 19, 2020 WhatsApp didn't let you send pictures, voice notes and any multimedia content. Here's what the reasons were
WhatsApp down. WhatsApp not working. WhatsApp won't let me send images. WhatsApp won't let me send voice notes. #WhatsAppdown. For three hours the application gave big problems, not allowing the sending of images, videos, voice notes and any multimedia content. The only tool that worked were text messages.
The first problems were reported at 12:00 and the WhatsApp down ended around 15:00. Compared to previous similar cases, this time the problem the WhatsApp down was quite unusual. And the reason is very simple: during the malfunction that made it impossible to send images, videos and multimedia content, some users were able to use the application without any problem. In the editorial staff of Libero Tecnologia we have carried out tests with different smartphones and it turned out that some Huawei and iPhone devices had no malfunction, while all the others could not use WhatsApp.
In cases like this it is difficult to find the reasons why WhatsApp did not work and did not allow sending voice notes and images. It is, however, possible to make hypotheses, starting with the most plausible one: a generalized problem to the servers of the application that has affected only some features of the app.
Why WhatsApp did not work on January 19, 2020
From Facebook (owner of WhatsApp) has not arrived any message and no explanation on the down of WhatsApp. In the social pages has not been published any message and therefore do not know the real reasons why the application did not work for three hours in the day yesterday (January 19, 2020, ed.). The problem, however, was quite important, since it affected not only Italy, but all of Europe and also other parts of the World such as Middle Eastern countries. In the United States, the effect was less because of the time zone.
Not having official news, we can only speculate on why WhatsApp didn't work. It is not the first time that the application has this kind of problems: in July 2019 it stopped working for more than twelve hours, the biggest down in WhatsApp's history. This time the blackout lasted only three hours and affected only some features of the app (sending multimedia content).
One of the most plausible reasons on the malfunction of WhatsApp concerns a problem with the application's servers. This is a rather busy period for the application that is working on many new features (dark mode, new animated stickers, the ability to use the same profile on multiple devices) and perhaps it was necessary to do maintenance to the servers. Or the fault is a bug that affected the latest version of WhatsApp available for Android and iPhone. Bug that was quickly corrected and the patch installed automatically.
These are only hypotheses at the moment, waiting for an official communication from the technicians of the messaging application.