Damien Wilde / Android Authority
TL;DR
- WhatsApp beta users are running into a bug that is rendering the app useless.
- The bug is reportedly causing the screen to turn completely green or causing the app to force close.
- The issue appears to be isolated to beta version 2.24.24.5.
Betas are a good way to get early access to incoming features. While it can be fun to be one of the first to try out a new feature, it’s important to remember that the whole point of a beta is to help developers find and fix potential bugs. As such, there’s always a risk that comes with signing up for a beta program. WhatsApp beta users are being reminded of this risk as the latest beta has rendered the app useless.
Users on WhatsApp’s beta version 2.24.24.5 are reporting a green screen issue. This issue isn’t simply tinting the screen green; rather, the entire screen is just a solid block of green, making the app usable. It appears the issue is triggered when clicking on any chat.
According to Android Police, one of their writers has also experienced the problem. When trying to recreate the bug, however, they weren’t able to. But they did run into a somewhat similar issue with the app force closing on startup despite numerous attempts.
Fortunately, the issue appears to be isolated to beta version 2.24.24.5. Your app should be fine if it is currently running on the latest stable build. For those who are experiencing this problem, the best solution right now is to revert to an older version. However, that may prove to be tricky since WhatsApp betas are released as app bundles instead of standard APKs.
There have already been quite a few reports of this issue, so there’s a good chance the developers have noticed by now. If they have noticed, it probably won’t take too long for a fix to come out.