WhatsApp Bug on Android Deleting Old Chats for Some Users, Company Acknowledges Issue

A WhatsApp bug has been spotted by some Android users that is deleting their old chats. The bug, which appears to be affecting a group of users for a long time, recently got noticed on Twitter. Some users believe that the new development is a result of the announcement that was made in last November - pertaining to deletion of all the Google Drive backups older than a year. WhatsApp acknowledged the bug in a statement to Gadgets 360. However, the root cause of the problem is unknown.

"We are aware of this bug and are working on a fix for the users who have encountered this issue," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Gadgets 360.

The bug, which was first reported by WhatsApp beta watcher WABetaInfo last week, was reportedly deleting old messages silently. It is unclear whether the bug is a part of older WhatsApp versions, or it exists even on the latest version as well.

"I am facing the issue from June 2018. I am losing very important old messages. I sent too many emails to WhatsApp, now they stop responding me. I tried everything including reset phone, different WA [WhatsApp] version, changing phone, but no use [sic]," one of the affected users posted on Twitter.

We weren't able to verify the reported issue independently. However, some users believe that the issue exists as a result of the WhatsApp decision that was taken in November to delete old Google Drive backups. The Facebook-owned company had warned that Android users who hadn't backed up their data and chats on Google Drive for over a year would lose their older backups.

That being said, users are recommended to regularly back up their data and chats on Google Drive to keep them safe.

We discussed what WhatsApp absolutely needs to do in 2019, on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.