Help suspended from WhatsApp!

[Discombobulated2024]

I am on a walking holiday abroad, alone and relying on WhatsApp to book accommodation as well as for keeping safe and feeling connected to friends and family. This morning I had a message from WhatsApp, ‘this account can no longer use WhatsApp’ No explanation.

I have no idea why this has happened. I am a respectable 62 year old woman. Not a spammer, scammer or extremist. I have not broken the terms and conditions in any way at all. I am really upset and panicking. Any ideas why this might be and what I could do about it?

I have, of course turned it off and on again and tried to reinstall the app. Nothing. Happened about 4 hours ago.

@rewilded I’m not sure what you mean about the group. I am hiking alone. It’s not an organised holiday. Having said that, a group of us solo female hikers did start a WhatsApp group to pass on info about hazards etc (it’s quite an isolated trail) and I feel cut off from them too.

I am just going to have to turn up at the places and hope there is room. I can also piece together other ways of contacting other people. Right now I feel pretty vulnerable and isolated though. There are some risks associated with this environment and getting accommodation but I also feel lonely without easy contact with friends and family. Of course, I will work it out and get on with it.

I keep getting added to enormous groups with titles like “investment opportunity” by random numbers. It’s happening more and more frequently.

Just to reiterate I did not spam anybody or do anything wrong at all. WhatsApp have confirmed they made a mistake! Still can’t use it though.

Have you followed my instructions op?

How do they know people are spamming though? They promise all messages are end to end encrypted.

I hope you get this resolved. It sounds incredibly isolating and scary

From people reporting others.

You are the third person that I've heard of today with the same issue. I think someone in the WhatsApp team must have made up. Never heard of this issue before and suddenly lots of people have it

People might not be keen on texting a number abroad (for them) as either it costs them a lot of money or their subscription doesn’t allow them to do so anyway.
Whatsapp doesn’t have that issue

@CaptainCabinetsTrappedInCabinets thank you for posting me this info about WhatsApp permissions. I had already come across it. Unfortunately‘permissions’ for WhatsApp is not available on my phone (iPhone x).

yep but can download tother messaging app to keep in contact with family type thing and lots of people use or have other ones available to them.

Of course it is.

To manage app permissions on an iPhone, you can do the following:

Check app tracking permissions
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking to see a list of apps that have requested to track you. You can turn permission on or off for any app, or turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track to stop all apps from asking.

View a specific app's permissions
Go to Settings, scroll down to the app you want to check, and tap its name. You'll see a list of permissions the app has and hasn't been granted.

Restrict access to apps
Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enter a passcode, toggle on Content & Privacy Restrictions, click Allowed Apps, and disable the apps you want to restrict.

To give an app permission on an iPhone, you can do the following:

Open the Settings app
Go to Privacy & Security
Tap the Allow Apps to Request to Track switch
Tap an option, such as Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders
Tap the switch next to the app to turn it on or off

@CaptainCabinetsTrappedInCabinets thanks so much for helping, I really appreciate it!

Go to Settings, scroll down to the app you want to check, and tap its name. You'll see a list of permissions the app has and hasn't been granted

This honestly is not on my phone. There is nothing at all anywhere about permissions.

OP, if you go to setting and scroll right down to the list of apps and select WhatsApp you will see a screen like this where you can manage permissions.

Are you going to settings on your iPhone - the cog symbol or settings within the WhatsApp app? Need to go to phone settings.

If you have the app for your phone company you might be able to buy some cheap roaming, or turn off incoming call block just long enough to get the call.

Yes. I know exactly where my phone settings are!

Are you in North Korea on holiday or something?

Was just checking in case you were in the wrong place.

so when you scroll down to bottom of setting, is there no list of apps, or there is a list of apps but when you click on WhatsApp there is no option to give access to anything?

@DadJoke i am not receiving any sms from WhatsApp (though sms is working fine from other people)
I AM receiving the calls from WhatsApp, no problem. The issue is that the message says:
‘press number 7’ and that is it. I press 7 and nothing happens because the verification code has 6 digits and I am only being given one. Can anyone make sense of that? 🙏🏼🙏🏼

@queenmeadhbh there is a list of apps in settings. WhatsApp is on it but there is nothing within it about permissions,

This is what it looks like inside settings, whatsapp

Similar happened to me, I had changed my number on WhatsApp earlier that day, sent the same (super long) message to two people and was banned.

I appealed it and my account was back up and running again the following morning when I woke up.

Also I’m not sure if this will help but there is an app called Airalo that I used when travelling multiple countries. It’s an eSIM, so you can download it anywhere, maybe you could create a new whatsapp with the temporary number issued from airalo? I haven’t tried this so I’m unsure if it would work but might be worth a shot as the plans a very reasonable.

I had this yesterday. Out of the blue. Made me realise how dependent on it I am for everything and everyone. Send an appeal just saying why on earth has this happened and it's been restored within 24 hours saying it was by mistake! Very odd.

I've lost quite a few messages as don't think they were able to be be backed up but that's probably not a bad thing in some ways 😁 as was cluttered!