WhatsApp has started cracking down on unofficial Android clients for its service. While the world’s most popular messaging service was fine with their existence over all these years, it has now decided to take strict action against them.
However, the company is not taking direct action against apps like WhatsApp Plus or WhatsApp MD or their developers and is instead temporarily banning users of such apps for 24 hours. The company is also redirecting users to download the official WhatsApp client from the Google Play Store and is displaying a countdown until their ban is lifted.
There is not much you can do if you have already been banned by WhatsApp as even installing the official client will not lift your 24 hours ban earlier. If you have not been banned though and are using a third-party WhatsApp client on your Android device, I’d recommend you to immediately uninstall it and switch over to the official client.
WhatsApp has also updated its FAQ about the ban, but does not explain much except that users should shift to its official Android client.
Why am I banned for using WhatsApp Plus and how do I get unbanned?
WhatsApp Plus is an application that was not developed by WhatsApp, nor is it authorized by WhatsApp. The developers of WhatsApp Plus have no relationship to WhatsApp, and we do not support WhatsApp Plus. Please be aware that WhatsApp Plus contains source code which WhatsApp cannot guarantee as safe and that your private information is potentially being passed to 3rd parties without your knowledge or authorization.
Please uninstall your application and install an authorized version of WhatsApp from ourwebsite or Google Play. Then, you will be able to use WhatsApp.
As of now, it is unclear if third-party WhatsApp clients will continue to exist or they will have to shut shop.
[Via WhatsApp Plus]
