WhatsApp crash after 2000-character message - what to do?

Recently it can happen that you receive a 2000 character message via WhatsApp that causes the app to crash. In this practical tip, we show what this means and how you can protect yourself.

WhatsAPp crashes after 2, 000 character message - the backgrounds

• Recently, two teenagers posted a YouTube video demonstrating how the recipient's WhatsApp app could crash with a special message or string. It is a sequence of exactly 2000 characters that specifically attacks a security hole in WhatsApp and paralyzes the app. The string is publicly available on the Internet, so it can be easily sent from person to person.
• The message no longer opens the chat between sender and recipient. The string can therefore be misused to make unwanted chat histories simply disappear.

How can I fix the problem in WhatsApp?

• The only way to fix the problem is to delete the chat history with the sender of the 2000-character message.
• To do this, long press the corresponding chat in WhatsApp and select "Delete chat".

Can you protect yourself against security vulnerabilities?

• There is no basic protection against the crash message. However, you can save and archive particularly important chat histories as a preventive measure. Incidentally, this also works on the Windows Phone.
• You can import the history again later.
• Alternatively, you can print out your WhatsApp chat histories and thus save them in an analog form.