WhatsApp’s Linked Devices feature on both mobile and web appears to be experiencing login issues. Users have been reporting the problem since earlier today, and we can confirm that it is still persisting at the time of writing. Downdetector has also logged several hundred reports since the issue first surfaced.
In our tests, attempts to link a secondary device, whether through the WhatsApp mobile app or via WhatsApp Web, consistently failed during the login process. After scanning the QR code or entering a phone number for verification, the process would stall and never complete.
The issue affects the feature that allows users to connect additional devices to their primary WhatsApp account. Under normal circumstances, users can link laptops, tablets, or secondary phones without requiring the main device to remain online. For now, however, new device pairings do not appear to go through.
Importantly, we’ve discovered that devices that were already linked and logged in before the issue surfaced continue to function normally. Messages sync as usual, and there is no disruption to ongoing chats on those devices.
On the flip side, there have been no widespread reports of users being unable to log into their primary WhatsApp accounts on their main smartphones. That said, given the ongoing pairing issue, users are advised not to log out from any currently linked devices, as re-linking them may not be possible until the problem is resolved.
We have reached out to WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, for clarification.
