WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. When you send a message on WhatsApp, it can show up in a few different colors – most commonly blue, grey, or green. While blue and grey messages are standard, green messages often lead to confusion, leaving users wondering: Why is my WhatsApp message green?
There are a few potential reasons why your WhatsApp messages may be showing up green instead of blue or grey. The most common causes include:
- Your message hasn’t been sent yet
- Your message is being sent as a SMS/text message rather than over the internet
- You have messages disabled for the contact
- Your contact has an expired invitation to join WhatsApp
- You or your contact don’t have an active internet connection
Let’s explore each of these common causes in more detail.
Your Message Hasn’t Been Sent Yet
One of the most common reasons for a green WhatsApp message is that your message hasn’t actually been sent yet.
When you don’t have an internet connection, the WhatsApp message will show up green until it can be delivered. The app is essentially putting your message in a queue to be sent once you regain connectivity.
| Message Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | Message pending delivery |
| Blue | Message successfully delivered via internet |
| Grey | Message received and read by recipient |
So if you have a spotty internet connection, or lost service temporarily, new messages may continue to appear green until the connectivity issues are resolved and they can be sent.
Troubleshooting Tips
If pending messages are the issue, here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot:
- Check that you have an active internet connection in your device’s settings.
- Force close and restart the WhatsApp app.
- Toggle airplane mode on and off to reset the connection.
- Update to the latest version of WhatsApp in your device’s app store.
Following these steps should allow any pending messages to deliver and appear blue once you regain a stable connection.
Message Sent as SMS/Text Instead of Data
Another potential reason your WhatsApp messages are showing up green is that they are being sent as traditional SMS or text messages rather than through WhatsApp’s internet-based messaging platform.
This can happen if:
- You or your recipient don’t have active internet connections.
- You’ve chosen to send the message as an SMS/text in your WhatsApp settings.
- Group settings are enabled to allow SMS/text fallback messaging.
In these cases, even though you are in the WhatsApp app, your messages are being delivered via your cellular provider as texts, not using data. The green color indicates the message was sent via SMS/text, not WhatsApp’s servers.
Troubleshooting Tips
To ensure your messages are being sent over WhatsApp data rather than SMS/text:
- Check internet connectivity and troubleshoot any issues.
- Open WhatsApp settings > Chats and disable the option to “Send Messages as SMS”.
- For Groups, open settings > Group Info > Send Messages and disable “Allow admins to send messages as SMS”.
As long as all parties have working internet connections, this will prevent messages from defaulting to green text SMS/MMS delivery.
You Have Messages Disabled for a Contact
WhatsApp allows you to disable messages from specific contacts. If you’ve disabled messages from someone, your messages to them will always appear green.
Disabling messages prevents you from receiving messages from a contact, but also means your messages to them are never actually delivered. They are basically sent into a void.
So if you have messages disabled for a contact, any messages you send them will forever remain green undelivered messages on your end.
Troubleshooting Tips
To resolve this:
- Open the contact’s chat window in WhatsApp.
- Tap the contact name at the top of the chat window.
- Tap More options > Communications > Message and calls.
- Enable the option to receive messages from this contact.
Once you re-enable messaging capabilities, your messages will start being delivered normally again and will turn blue or grey.
Contact Has an Expired Invitation Link
When you invite someone new to WhatsApp, they receive a link via SMS to activate their account. This link typically expires after a set number of days.
If someone hasn’t opened their invite link and activated their account before the link expires, any messages you send them will continue to display in green even though they were never actually received.
Troubleshooting Tips
To fix this:
- Re-invite the contact to WhatsApp by opening a chat with their phone number and selecting Invite via the menu.
- Have them open the new activation link on their device.
Once their account is successfully activated, your messages will start being delivered and will change color accordingly.
You or Your Contact Don’t Have Internet Connection
As mentioned earlier, the most common reason for pending green messages is simply not having an internet connection.
If either you or the recipient don’t have a working internet connection when you send a WhatsApp message, it will initially appear green until connectivity is restored on both ends.
Possible causes include:
- Poor cellular signal in the area
- WiFi network issues
- Turning on Airplane mode
- Disabling mobile data
- Suspended cell phone service
Any type of disruption in internet access can cause messages to become stuck in green limbo.
Troubleshooting Tips
To return messaging to normal, the first step is simply restoring uninterrupted internet access:
- Switch from WiFi to cellular data or vice versa.
- Move to an area with better signal strength.
- Disable Airplane mode and enable mobile data.
- Connect to a different WiFi network.
- Pay any overdue cell phone bills to resume service.
As long as both parties regain internet connectivity, the pending messages should deliver and change color from green to blue or grey.
Other Potential Causes
While the situations outlined above represent the most common reasons for green WhatsApp messages, there are a few other potential culprits:
- The contact has you blocked – Messages will immediately turn green.
- Server issues at WhatsApp – Large scale outages can prevent message delivery.
- App bugs – Software bugs may sometimes improperly flag messages as undelivered.
- Changing phone numbers – Messages will not deliver if a contact changes numbers.
- Filtered messages – Some messages may be blocked if a contact’s phone deems them spam.
In most cases, the reasons come down to underlying connection issues between you, the recipient, and WhatsApp’s servers. But occasionally other technical glitches can also turn messages green.
Conclusion
Seeing green WhatsApp messages instead of blue or grey ones can be troubling, but in most cases it simply indicates a temporary delivery issue rather than anything to be concerned about.
The most common fixes involve checking your internet connectivity, troubleshooting any connection problems, and ensuring messaging is enabled between you and the recipient.
As long as both parties have functioning internet access and messaging enabled, your messages should reliably send across WhatsApp’s data network and display in blue or grey depending on read status. But if you encounter further issues with green messages, contacting WhatsApp support can also help identify and resolve persistent delivery problems.
With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is relied on by people across the globe for affordable communication. So make sure to troubleshoot any green messages diligently in order to restore seamless messaging capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my messages green even though I have internet?
If you have internet but messages are still green, potential reasons include:
- The recipient doesn’t have internet access – check with them.
- You have messaging disabled for the contact – re-enable it.
- The contact’s invite link expired – resend a new one.
- The app has encountered a bug – try force closing and reopening it.
Will pending messages send automatically?
Yes, messages that are stuck green due to no internet will automatically send once you reconnect to the internet. There is no need to resend them manually.
Can I increase how long invite links last?
Unfortunately no, the expiration period for invite links is set by WhatsApp and cannot be increased. You’ll need to periodically resend new links if contacts don’t activate within the allotted timeframe.
Why do blocked contacts still show one checkmark?
Even if you block someone, your messages may still reach WhatsApp’s server before being blocked, resulting in a single checkmark. Full message delivery will not complete so they will remain green.
How do I know if poor signal is causing green messages?
Check your device’s signal strength in Settings or try manually switching between WiFi and cellular data to determine if connection issues are impacting message delivery and causing them to display as green.
Key Takeaways
- Green WhatsApp messages indicate the message has not been successfully delivered.
- Common reasons are no internet connectivity, messages sent as SMS/text, disabled messaging, expired invite links, blocking contacts, etc.
- Troubleshooting internet connections, resending invites, and re-enabling messaging can help fix most issues.
- As long as both parties are online with messaging enabled, messages will send over data and display blue or grey.