WhatsApp users across the world briefly faced trouble sending photos, videos and stickers after the messaging app suffered a widespread outage.
While text messages continued to go through for many, the
issue left users guessing what had gone wrong.
Users Report Problems With Media Sharing
WhatsApp users across several countries reported problems with the app after they found they could not send media files. While many said regular text messages were working, photos, videos and stickers failed to go through, leading to confusion and frustration.
The issue was widely reported on Monday evening, with outage-tracking platform DownDetector showing a sharp rise in complaints. Reports reached their highest level around 6:45 p.m. EDT.
By around 10:15 p.m. EDT, the number of new complaints had dropped, suggesting the service had started working normally again.
Photos, Videos And Stickers Stop Sending
Many users shared their experiences online, saying only media sharing seemed to be affected.
One user wrote, “I can’t send images nor videos.” Another posted, “Cannot send media. I have another account on Apple and it seems unaffected. So it looks like it is an Android-only issue.”
A third user added, “Cannot send pictures. So I guess multimedia is affected.” Others reported similar problems. One person wrote, “Texts going through but no media.”
Another commented, “Won’t let me send stickers or pictures to my bestie :(“ One user also said, “Cannot send anything from my gallery. Always shows retry and no more information about it.”
WhatsApp is down right now Users worldwide can’t send images / photos / media.
Texts might go through, but pictures are stuck or failing. Is it just me or is everyone hitting this? Drop a if you’re affected#WhatsAppDown #WhatsAppOutage #WhatsApp— Raw (@Emmynnuel) August 3, 2026
Users Turn To X As Speculation Begins
As WhatsApp users struggled with the issue, many moved to X (formerly Twitter) to check whether others were facing the same problem.
One post read, “Can’t send WhatsApp media, Can’t update your statuses? Don’t buy more bundles, don’t restart your phone…Relax and go back to sleep. WhatsApp is down.”
Another user shared, “I have been on ChatGPt for over an hour now trying to sort problem that randomly grew out of nowhere no knowing it’s actually Whatsapp that have been down all this while. I just had to pause and asked the Werey check if other people are having the same issue.”
Meanwhile, a post from X account WABetaInfo also gained attention. It claimed, “Please do not install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.31.2 update. A bug prevents users from sending media files. An upcoming update will fix this issue.”
However, WhatsApp and its parent company Meta did not confirm whether the beta version was linked to the outage. Meta also did not explain what caused the issue before the service returned to normal.
