WhatsApp, now owned by Facebook, has over 500 million users and is available on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian and, until recently, Windows Phone. The popular messaging app was abruptly pulled from the Windows Phone store a couple of weeks ago. The reason? Unknown “technical issues” and which left users stranded with many unanswered questions.
Now, both WhatsApp and Microsoft have taken to their respective company forums to declare they are working together to bring the app back to life for Windows Phone users. According to Microsoft, “WhatsApp chose to unpublish their app from the Windows Phone Store after discovering an issue with how notifications are being handled on Windows Phone 8, Update 3.”
The downside for WP8 WhatsApp users is that there is no clear indication of when the app will return, only that they hope to “resolve the issue quickly,” but both companies are asking for your patience. Who knows, if BlackBerry gets its act together and pushes through BBM for Windows Phone then perhaps they can steal some messaging market share.
Update: WhatsApp is back in business and ready to download in the Windows Phone Store. The app has been updated to version 2.11.490.0 and includes the following updates:
– Chat backgrounds
– Broadcast lists
– Privacy settings (settings > account > privacy)
– Media auto-download settings (settings > chat settings > media autodownload)
– Custom notification tones (Windows Phone 8 Update 3 required)
– Various enhancements and bug fixes
Download WhatsApp for Windows Phone here.
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