Un bug in WhatsApplinked to a specific link, is causing a lot of problems on Android: touching it users end up crashing the app. Instead of taking users to Settings, as it should, it ends up crashing the application.
WhatsApp, a link on Android blocks the app
The link in question is the following: wa.me/settings. This link is supposed to take users to the app’s Settings page, but instead crashes WhatsApp on Android. Something the user discovered Brute Beewho detected this strange behavior of the world’s most used messaging app and shared it on Twitter.
According to Brute Bee, the bug is caused by an unhandled exception in the app codeprecisely one IndexOutOfBoundsException. This type of error occurs when you try to access an item that doesn’t exist. Then it causes a crash cycle when a user selects a chat with the offending link.
This bug affects and consumer users of WhatsApp that those who use l’app WhatsApp Business. And it seems to be present on devices with Android 12 e con Android 13. iOS users, on the other hand, are not affected by this problem, as are those who use WhatsApp on desktop or via the web.
The temporary solution to this problem is very simple: just avoid opening the chats that contain the problematic link. If you have already opened conversations with this link, to solve it you can access WhatsApp from another platform and delete the message with the link.