Unable to send links or photos in WhatsApp on iPhone? Here’s the fix
Follow these troubleshooting tips if WhatsApp prevents you from sending links, photos, videos, and other attachments to your friends and family from your iPhone by blocking or graying out the Next or Send buttons.
In rare situations, you may be unable to send website links and attachments over WhatsApp, especially when sending them directly using the iOS Share Sheet. This happens because of bugs in an older version of the messaging app, system glitches, or the optional app lock you have set to protect your WhatsApp chats.
The solutions below will help you come out of this problem.
Update WhatsApp
First off, if you have not updated the WhatsApp application in a long time or left it at the mercy of automatic updates (which can take weeks by design), then open the iPhone App Store now and install any pending app update for WhatsApp.
Once you have the latest app version, try sending a link or photo from inside a WhatsApp chat or by tapping the share button in another app like Safari or Photos. It should be sent normally. If not, follow the remaining tips.
Update your iPhone
If your iPhone is running an older version of iOS, update it to the latest build of iOS 26 and then try using WhatsApp to send links and photos to friends.
Turn off app lock from inside WhatsApp
You can lock WhatsApp by:
- Opening the app and going to Settings > Privacy > App Lock > Require Face ID.
- Or, you can also use iOS’s system-wide app lock feature by touching and holding the WhatsApp app icon on your iPhone Home Screen and selecting Require Face ID.
Based on several user reports, WhatsApp grays out the next or send buttons when sharing links and photos if you use the in-app lock found in its settings.
So, open WhatsApp, go to Settings > Privacy > App Lock, and turn off Require Face ID. Then force quit and reopen the app, and it should no longer block you from sharing URLs or attachments.
If you need to lock your WhatsApp chats, use iOS’s own app lock feature instead of the one found inside WhatsApp Settings.
Disable app lock entirely
If you still face issues sending website links and photos, turn off the main iOS app lock for WhatsApp if you’re using it. To do this, touch and hold the WhatsApp icon on your iPhone Home Screen and tap Don’t Require Face ID. In case you hid the app, unhide it from the Hidden section of App Library.
Try unhiding the hidden chat
Have you noticed that you can send links, photos, documents, videos, etc., to every other user on WhatsApp except for those whose chats you have locked inside the app (yes, WhatsApp offers you the option to hide and lock specific chats, without adding an app lock over the entire app)?
In this case, send the attachments by unhiding and unlocking that specific WhatsApp chat. Or, unhide and unlock it temporarily, send the media, and then hide or lock it again.
Restart your iPhone
Temporary system glitches could be another reason for app misbehavior. If WhatsApp crashes or doesn’t work as intended, simply restart your iPhone and try again. While you’re here, also make sure you have at least a couple of GBs of free space on your iPhone.
Check your internet connection
The send button inside WhatsApp may be grayed out if you don’t have a working cellular or Wi-Fi connection on your iPhone. Check and fix this issue first if needed. Then, retry sending the link or photos over WhatsApp, and it will go through normally.
If nothing helps…
Lastly, if nothing helps, I recommend waiting for yet another WhatsApp update. Meta (the owners of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram) publishes app updates regularly to fix known issues.
If waiting isn’t suitable for you, consider deleting and installing WhatsApp again. But this will lead to a loss of all your chats. So, back it up first before nuking the app and setting it up again.
Which of the above solutions worked for you?
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/11/06/fix-whatsapp-not-sending-links-photos-ios/
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