WhatsApp tile grayed out

[FourTonMantis]

The same problem happened to me. The tile greys out because there is an app backup going on the background (The backup option found in the settings of the phone and NOT of whatsapp). You just gotta be patient for it to finish backing up( and im guessing that depends on your WiFi/2G/3G/4G speed?).

Hope this helped.

CORRECT!
This was the reason for me too! I tested it and I can confirm that during phone backup the tile is grayed-out.

 

[pedmar007]

People please just calm down!! When the whatsapp tile is greyed out on your start screen all that simply means is that your device is performing a SYSTEM BACKUP!! When this is happening the whatsapp tile will automatically be greyed out. To test what I'm saying go to settings, back up, click app+settings, click back up now, when it starts click the windows capacitive key on your phone and see if the whatsapp tile isn't greyed out at that time. Whenever your phone does a system backup whatsapp is automatically disabled. Happened to me this morning as my whatsapp tile was also greyed out, so I went to the backup settings to check and saw my last backup was 23hrs ago and the whatsapp tile was disabled. Checked my phone again @ 07:30 and it now says last backup on Tuesday and today for me is now Wednesday @07:41.

 

[giga84]

I'm having the same problem just now. Whatsapp grayed out 15 hours ago.
BarryBatsbak's tip didn't work for me.
It's not a backup problem, as MiKs92 said: I have been connected to my WiFi for 8 hours.
I cannot reinstall via web. Obviously, support doesn't answer.
Now I'll wait 24 hours, then I'll try to uninstall/install again.

EDIT: When I'll be back home, I'll try to perform a new system backup as pedmar007 said.

 

[Mahesh Pai]

Happened to me too(L720). And my cousin!(L820) Faced this issue twice last week. The first time around I headed to the app list to open whatsapp and it worked. After a restart did not work the second time, I just uninstalled and reinstalled the app. Got to restore all my messages too. Even the ones that I received when it was grayed out.

 

[Mrc Jkb]

I'm having the same problem just now. Whatsapp grayed out 15 hours ago.
BarryBatsbak's tip didn't work for me.
It's not a backup problem, as MiKs92 said: I have been connected to my WiFi for 8 hours.
I cannot reinstall via web. Obviously, support doesn't answer.
Now I'll wait 24 hours, then I'll try to uninstall/install again.

EDIT: When I'll be back home, I'll try to perform a new system backup as pedmar007 said.

It seems to me that the latest preview for developers update had a backup bug. Mine always fails at 97 %. WhatsApp remains grayed out after it fails. So I have to start the backup again, hit cancel and then WhatsApp works.
Can anyone confirm this issue?

 

[WinampLlama]

I had this happen to me last week and I manually started another backup, then whatsapp started working again. Not sure if it was due to the backup or just time passing though

 

[neglekted]

But does this mean WA conversations are now backed up to OneDrive? My recent experience seems to indicate so.

I recently sent my L925 to Nokia because I was experiencing freezes, and I received what I believe is a refurbished phone; at least the IMEI is different, and it appeared to have been wiped clean. I turned it on, went through the setup, restored my backup and sure enough all my WhatsApp conversations were there. So either the conversations are getting backed up online, or they replaced the mainboard in my phone and the WhatsApp user data somehow remained intact. The L925 doesn't have a SD card so that can't be it.

 

[CecileV]

My whatsapp tile greyed out last night. After manually starting a backup, whatsapp started again. No messages were lost.

 

[Maxxie8]

The issue is still here for me. Periodically my whatsapp tile stops working and i'm forced to uninstall the app.

 

[warmth]

It happened twice today to my WhatsApp and Messenger (Facebook), I just waited and they returned back. I think it has something to do with the Windows Phone 8.1 backup system. I was prompted to do backup and it all happened.

 

[SidneyG]

Under "Apps + Settings" - select "Backup", set "Settings Backup" to "ON" and hit "Back up Now". Once done - WhatsApp will be triggered to restart and work (even when the Backup itself could not finish).

 

[dirkvbok]

It's when automatic updates is on; some apps need to be opened after the update to be fully updated.
I just had a gray WhatsApp tile (again!) and thought about the updates. I then looked at my update history to find that the simple "Music" app of Windows had been updated this day. I opened the app and it told me it needed to do some final update things while I was in the app. After that my WhatsApp was normal again.

 

[docarchy]

Under "Apps + Settings" - select "Backup", set "Settings Backup" to "ON" and hit "Back up Now". Once done - WhatsApp will be triggered to restart and work (even when the Backup itself could not finish).

I had the same problem today as well. So I started the manual backup and when it reached 95% WhatsApp came alive. So I guess it does have something to do with the backup.

 

[Naveen Kumar R]

Same here in Lumia 920. After loosing my patience, I re installed it and as because of it, I lost few messages that was not backed up properly. But the issue is happening again and this time I am not going to re install and I will wait for a proper solution. I must wait for WhatsApp team to revert back

 

[Eliminateur]

a friend has this same problem since 3+hrs ago, but pressing the backup button did not show any progress(it was instant back to menu) and it still showed last backup on wednesday, needless to say, whatsapp still greyed.
?could it be because it's on EDGE speed and for some reason win phones simply don't work at EDGE datarate?(my old 5800 did work all the time on edge but on lumia if it drops to edge even with full signal bar it's goodbye data)
the "share picture" workaround doesn't works because whatsapp is not showing on the "share to" list of apps...

 

[Stephen Kipkosgei]

Hey guys,
I am the happiest I think. I am out of my country and since I do not have access to confirmation text messages from my WhatsApp line, I could afford the Uninstall and Install my WhatsApp application. It mysteriously turned grey and I could open it. My attempt to find a solution from WhatsApp website were unsuccessful.

Therefore, I am hereby confirming Roberts suggestion as a solution to these problem. Thank you so much Robert for saving my ***.

Stephen

 

[Eliminateur]

in my case it solved by itself, nothing else worked (backups wouldn't even run).

also, the "share to" doesn't works as i don't even had that on my working whatsapp, it doesn't appears as a valid destination

 

[Sri Vishnu]

I am facing the same issue fourth time by now,
Previously i waited until it automatically gets resolved(1.5 days at max).
This time i tried Settings -> Backup -> apps+settings -> back up now.
And whatsapp started to work as usual once the process was done.
No idea about the root cause or solution, but it worked fine in both Lumia 630 and Lumia 520.

 

[Sumit Sinha2]

facing same problem this os is f*##* really hating it

 

[Sumit Sinha2]

it worked while backing up