Follow these troubleshooting tips to fix WhatsApp on your iPhone opening to a blank or white screen instead of showing you the conversation list.
A blank WhatsApp screen is a known issue that can occur due to bugs, problems with your internet connectivity, insufficient storage space, and other issues.
In this step-by-step troubleshooter, we’ll show you ways to identify the root cause of the problem and share fixes to resolve the issue so you can keep on chatting.
Start with the basic troubleshooting steps
- Download the latest WhatsApp update from the App Store.
- If you’re just setting up WhatsApp, delete the app and download it again.
- Ensure you have a stable Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. Try switching to a different network if available.
- Restart your iPhone (make it a habit to do so every few days).
The two-factor authentication screen may be stuck
With two-step verification turned on, WhatsApp will prompt you once a week to enter your six-digit code so you don’t forget it. WhatsApp may sometimes freeze or show a blank screen when bringing up the keypad to punch in your verification code. Force-quitting and reopening the app once or twice will fix this problem, albeit only temporarily.
Too many contacts?
If you have more than 1,000 entries in the built-in Contacts app, WhatsApp may open to a blank screen instead of your chat list. This can be especially problematic on older iPhone models, which have more constrained resources. Force-quitting the app should resolve the issue temporarily. Otherwise, try these tips:
- Delete useless contacts from your iPhone.
- Merge or delete duplicate contacts.
- Don’t authorize WhatsApp to access all your contacts; instead, allow just the important ones. For instance, if you use two WhatsApp accounts on your iPhone, limit your personal WhatsApp app from accessing contacts meant for WhatsApp Business. You can do this by using the selective contact access feature in iOS.
Free up WhatsApp storage
If you’ve exchanged a large number of photos, videos, documents, and more, free up WhatsApp storage in WhatsApp Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage. Here, you can delete unneeded WhatsApp attachments. Or, select the Chats tab and delete entire conversations along with their media.
Make space on your iPhone
WhatsApp and other apps may crash if your iPhone doesn’t have at least a few gigabytes of usable storage space. Back in the day, I used to see a blank screen often when opening WhatsApp on my 16 GB iPhone. To free up storage space, delete unneeded apps, videos, photos, and other unwanted data.
If you’re setting up WhatsApp on an old iPhone
WhatsApp requires iOS 15.1 and later. If you try using the app on an older iPhone model running iOS 15 or earlier, it won’t work, or you may see a blank screen when launching the app. If your iPhone is running a version of iOS newer than 15.1 but not the most recent version (iOS 18 or iOS 26), you may also encounter issues. Update to the latest version of iOS and see if that solves the problem.
Bubu98 shared a unique trick to fix the blank WhatsApp screen on older devices:
- Delete the app on your iPhone and reinstall it from the App Store.
- Launch WhatsApp, enter your mobile phone number, and complete setup.
- Skip restoring the chat archive from iCloud.
- Do not enter your name when prompted. Instead, open Control Center and turn off Wi-Fi and cellular data.
- Return to WhatsApp, then enter your name, and continue.
- Return to Control Center, and toggle on Wi-Fi and cellular data.
- Finish the login process in WhatsApp.
Reset network settings
Sometimes, WhatsApp issues are caused by your iPhone’s internet connection. In that case, resetting all network settings to factory defaults may fix the problem.
Delete and reinstall WhatsApp
If none of the above troubleshooting steps help, your only option is to wait for a future WhatsApp update that may fix the problem. If waiting isn’t an option, consider deleting or reinstalling the app, but first back up your WhatsApp chats to iCloud so that you can restore them later.
Have any of the troubleshooting steps that we shared here helped you fix the empty screen issue in WhatsApp on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments!