Some bad things can happen to your online accounts, WhatsApp included, and it’s very annoying to have to deal with the fallout of a hack. But if WhatsApp just told you that you’d been logged out of the app on the Android phone, you shouldn’t panic. Not right away. That’s because a bug is the culprit for this unusual WhatsApp logout. It’s not a team of super hackers going after WhatsApp properties.
The way that WhatsApp security works is very simple. Each WhatsApp account requires a unique phone number. Unlike other logins that need a user and password combination, WhatsApp only uses your phone number. That makes hacking WhatsApp more difficult. That’s why WhatsApp will not work on an old device if you change your phone and then activate the app on the new handset.
Seeing an error message telling you that your WhatsApp app logged you out because you tied your account to a different phone number is still going to be scary. You’ll panic, not knowing what had happened and whether hackers targeted you with some sort of malicious attack. But you can breathe a little easier knowing that there’s no widespread issue with WhatsApp. You haven’t been hacked. It’s just a bug.
The WhatsApp logout scare
Well-known WhatsApp secrets leaker WABetaInfo said on Twitter that the WhatsApp logout isn’t a hack. It’s only happening to some Android users, and the “fix” is quite simple.
If you have been recently logged out from WhatsApp, on WhatsApp for Android, don't worry: it's a bug. You can log into WhatsApp again. pic.twitter.com/SnhFzUd5jP
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) August 8, 2021
Here’s the error message that you might have received:
Your phone number is no longer registered with WhatsApp on this phone. This might be because you registered it on another phone.
If you didn’t do this, verify your phone number to log back into your account.
Again, it’s doubtful that someone used a different phone number to log into your WhatsApp account. If you encounter the error, you need to know you’ll soon restore access to your chats. All you need to do is verify your phone number to log back into WhatsApp right away — just as the error message above says.
Some Twitter users replied they didn’t see the error. Others said that they’d experienced the WhatsApp logout, but they were able to log in “normally.”
The cause is unclear at this time or why only WhatsApp users on Android got the error. But some people experienced it on multiple accounts registered with different phones. They realized they might be dealing with a bug rather than some sort of elaborate hack.
Still, it’s vital for those affected to know this was an accidental logout. Otherwise, the affected users might think they might be the victim of an attack and worry that similar WhatsApp logouts might follow again in the future. That’s not to say that all WhatsApp logouts are accidental. If you get the WhatsApp logout error repeatedly, you might want to contact WhatsApp about it.
