If you are unable to see someone’s WhatsApp status, there are a few potential reasons why this may be happening. The most common reasons are that the person has blocked you, their privacy settings prevent you from viewing their status, your own privacy settings are restricting status visibility, or there is a technical issue.
They Blocked You
The most likely reason you can’t see someone’s WhatsApp status is because they have blocked you. When you are blocked by someone on WhatsApp, you won’t be able to see any updates about their online status or when they were last seen. Their profile photo will also disappear. In addition, any messages you send them will show only one check mark and never get delivered.
If you think you may have been blocked, here are some signs to look out for:
- You can no longer see their profile photo
- You don’t see their status updates anymore
- Your messages only show one check mark and never get delivered
- Any calls you make to them don’t go through
- The contact shows up as “unknown” in any group chats you share
If you are experiencing a combination of some or all of these issues when communicating with a certain contact, they have likely blocked you. Unfortunately there is no way to confirm it directly within WhatsApp.
Their Privacy Settings
Another possibility is that the person has updated their WhatsApp privacy settings to control who can see their status updates, profile photo, and last seen status. WhatsApp allows users to limit visibility of these things to their contacts only, their contacts except specific people, or no one.
To check your contact’s status privacy settings:
- Open the WhatsApp chat with the contact whose status you cannot see.
- Tap on their name at the top of the chat window.
- Tap on the three vertical dots icon in the top right.
- Select View Contact.
- Tap on the three vertical dots icon again.
- Choose Status privacy.
Here you will see one of three options selected:
- My Contacts – Status visible to all contacts.
- My Contacts Except… – Status visible to all contacts except those specifically excluded.
- Only Share With… – Status visible only to contacts manually selected.
If you cannot view the contact’s status, they likely have it set to “My Contacts Except…” or “Only Share With…” and have not included you. There is no way to override this on your end.
Your Privacy Settings
It’s also possible your privacy settings are preventing you from seeing someone else’s status. Just like other users can limit who sees their status, you can also limit who can view your “last seen” status and profile photo.
To verify your privacy settings:
- Open WhatsApp Settings.
- Tap Account > Privacy.
- Tap Last Seen.
- Select one of the options: Everyone, My Contacts, My Contacts Except…, or No One.
If you have your last seen setting excluded to certain contacts, they will reciprocally not be able to see your status updates or when you were last online. To fix this, you need to change your last seen privacy to “Everyone” or “My Contacts”.
Network Issues
Less commonly, not being able to view someone’s status can be caused by a technical issue with your device, mobile network, or the WhatsApp service itself. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:
- Force close and restart the WhatsApp app.
- Update WhatsApp to the latest version on your device’s app store.
- Check your internet connection and try toggling airplane mode on and off to reset.
- Clear cache and data for the WhatsApp app.
- Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
- Restart your phone.
If none of those steps resolve the issue, it’s likely not on your side. The problem could be an outage with WhatsApp servers, so you will have to wait until service is restored for statuses to display properly again.
They Deleted Their Status
One simple explanation is that the person already deleted or cleared their status update. WhatsApp statuses are only visible for 24 hours, so if enough time has passed since someone posted a status, it will no longer be viewable.
In this case, you just have to wait for them to post a new status update which will be visible based on each person’s privacy settings.
Their Account Is Deactivated
If someone temporarily deactivates their WhatsApp account, all of their account information is deleted during that time, including profile photo, last seen status, and any status updates. Their name will still show up in your contacts list, but everything else will be blanked out until they reactivate the account.
You will have to wait until they reactivate their WhatsApp account before you can view their status updates again. There is no shortcut or workaround for viewing a deactivated account’s status.
You Are Blocked By Their Contacts
An unlikely but possible scenario is that you have been individually blocked or excluded by contacts of the person whose status you cannot view. Due to how WhatsApp privacy settings work, this can indirectly prevent you from viewing a status.
For example, if Person A has shared their status with all their contacts except those specifically excluded, but you are blocked or excluded by one of Person A’s contacts, Person B, then you will not be able to see Person A’s status. This is because WhatsApp’s privacy settings are applied transitively across contact networks.
In this situation, you would need to be unblocked or removed from the excluded list by Person B in order to regain access to Person A’s status update. There is no setting Person A can change on their own end to override their contact’s privacy settings.
You Were Removed From a Group
Similarly, if you and the person used to be part of a common WhatsApp group, but you were removed from that group, this can lead to you being unable to view their status updates anymore. Even though you may still have an individual chat history with that person, removal from a shared group can impose restrictions based on the group privacy settings.
To regain access, you would need to be re-added to that common WhatsApp group. Having active shared group membership is the only way to override restrictions set within groups.
How to Restore Access
Aside from waiting, troubleshooting network issues, or certain privacy settings being changed on the other user’s end, there are limited options for you to restore access to someone’s status if you are currently unable to view it due to blocking or privacy settings.
You can try reaching out to the person directly through another communication channel to request they unblock you or update their status privacy settings. Some other steps that may work are:
- Ask a mutual contact to request the user unblock you
- Communicate through a different social media account
- Call or text the person if you have their number
Ultimately, if you are intentionally blocked or excluded, the user may not want you viewing their WhatsApp status at all. If that is their choice, there is unfortunately no way around that on your end unless they personally take steps to restore your access.
Preventing Future Access Issues
To avoid running into this situation again in the future, you can take proactive steps like:
- Carefully managing your WhatsApp privacy settings and who can view your status.
- Frequently reviewing your contacts list and removing any contacts you may have blocked.
- Monitoring your shared WhatsApp groups and ensuring you have active membership.
- Periodically backing up your WhatsApp chats in case your account is deleted.
- Making sure not to violate WhatsApp terms of service and giving others a reason to block you.
While you cannot fully control other users’ privacy settings, following these best practices can help prevent and minimize potential status visibility issues in the future.
When All Else Fails
If you have tried all troubleshooting steps and still cannot view someone’s status, it’s possible you may never regain access without changes on their end. At that point, you will have to accept that for whatever reason they do not want you seeing their WhatsApp status updates currently.
Constantly messaging the person to request access or asking mutual contacts to intervene is unlikely to change their mind. The best course is to move on and connect through other means if possible. If the desired contact changes their mind later, they have the control to restore your WhatsApp status access.