unusual issue of disappearing of profile pictures of my contacts in whatsapp application

  • Replies:19
2
Rajan
  • Forum posts: 2

Feb 6, 2014, 10:49:57 AM via Website

I created my whatsapp account eight days back. It was running normally till day before yesterday. On the day before yesterday, I noticed that profile pictures of my contacts have disappeared and on clicking on any profile picture, it shows "no profile photo". Out of all contacts I have chatted with till now (total 7), only 6's profile pictures are visible. I also checked the setting of the contact book and clicked on the refresh button of whatsapp application, but still it didn't have any effects. Please tell me why it is happening and how it could be rectified.

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Loie Favre 33
Loie Favre
  • Forum posts: 877

Feb 6, 2014, 11:25:53 AM via Website

Hey Rajan!

If it's happening in multiple contacts, somehow the image cache of the app may have gotten corrupted.
  • Go to settings, then Applications, Swipe to all and scroll down to WhatsApp.
  • Force stop the App.
  • Then clear data and cache.
  • In the app, go to settings, then contacts, and uncheck the box for show all contacts and then check it again.
If that didn't work, then try to uninstall and reinstall the app. Both ways would force the app to load the whole image cache again.

This problem is affecting many users since yesterday, so you aren't alone in your problem. It seems like WhatsApp has recently applied some patch at their backend, so hopefully this problem won't persist.

Did these solutions work for you?

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1
Roxanne Klerck
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 6, 2014, 11:53:29 AM via Website

Hi im having the exact same problem.
Neither solution helped :-(

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2
Rajan
  • Forum posts: 2

Feb 9, 2014, 1:35:43 PM via Website

Hey Loie,

First of all, thanks for your reply.

I tried your solutions, that is, stopping the app, clearing the data and cache. This did not work. Then, I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. It led to loss of data including chat conversations. Still, it did not affect at all. Is there any solid solution for the issue?

Additional information that may help you in suggesting solutions:

Whatsapp version: 2.11.163
Android version: 4.1.2

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1
Dilna Fathima
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 9, 2014, 4:00:16 PM via Website

Hi,

This is not a bug, it is a recent WhatsApp patch.

You will only be able to see the profile pictures of other contacts who has saved your contact in their address book.

Hope this helps... :)

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1
Sameisha Williams
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 9, 2014, 4:44:32 PM via Website

uurghhh thats alot of crap
why did whatsapp do that
now all im seeing is lots of blank pictures on my list and its frustrating

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3
Dhaval
  • Forum posts: 10

Feb 10, 2014, 6:57:22 AM via App

finally I got reason for this problem....

its whats app new privacy policy. ..
they now protecting profile picture from other...
nw onwards in whats app only the contact number which are added on both side phone, display profile picture....
any other which does not add your phone number on their phone, you can not see his or her profile picture on your mobile...

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1
Slackaz Remix
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 11, 2014, 4:45:43 AM via Website

FIXED: found the solution myself (for android)...nothing to do with the privacy policy glitch bullshit

basically the ONLY PEOPLE who experienced this problem have all their contacts stored on their sim card and not on the phone's internal memory. you just have to export them (or some) to the phones memory and then open up whatsapp and you would see everyones picture. after that you can go back & delete all the contacts on your phones memory and you sim card phone numbers would still be their as normal

1. go to your phone contacts & select settings.
2. select import/export.
3. select import from sim card and then select the blue device icon.
4. find the contact who's pic you cant see & select done...the contact will copy, meaning you would have 2 of the same contacts in your list,
one with sim card icon & another one with the blue device/phone icon.
5. open whatsapp & you'll see that the contact who didnt have a pic would now have their original pic up showning once again.
6. if you want, go back into your contact list & delete the contact with the blue device/phone icon, leaving you with the sim card icon alone as originally. so you
would have one of the contacts number in you phone instead of two.

i rather have my contacts stored on my sim card rather than my phones internal memory, even though you can have both at the same time

— modified on Feb 11, 2014, 4:49:15 AM

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Lavdeep Singh 1
Lavdeep Singh
  • Forum posts: 2

Feb 11, 2014, 4:40:41 PM via Website

hello everyone ,, no need to worry on issue of profile pics .. its a new policy ,, If a person have not saved your number in his phone and is using whatsapp , you cant see his profile pic ..same is with you .. you might have someone's number but they don't have yours i checked this out with my friends , download new whatsapp for android from official website ... www.whatsapp.com

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2
GlenAffric
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 19, 2014, 11:06:54 PM via Website

Actually, I don't think any of you have this right. This happened to me too. I lost over 40 profile pics , which actually happened gradually over a period of about 3 days. Then, after almost a week had passed, they gradually started loading again in the same order in which they'd disappeared.

If it is a new privacy policy, it doesn't seem to be working because some of those contacts who's pics disappeared definitely had my number on their phones, and of those who didn't, their pics came back too..... odd

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1
L Botland
  • Forum posts: 1

May 28, 2015, 8:44:46 PM via Website

Hi everyone, Just check your settings in WhatsApp
1 Open whatsapp and go to "Settings"
2 Select "Account"
3 Select "Privacy"

"Who can see my personal info"
- Last seen
- Profile photo *
- Status

should be there * ;)

Grtzzz

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1
Pawan rathi
  • Forum posts: 1

Mar 2, 2016, 6:46:10 AM via Website

Hey loie I have done all the things u hve told but than also not getting the result..as I can do chats wth that contacts of those I can't se dp n status.. it hve been going from 2 week before it was OK.. Plizz fix the problem

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2
Bob Smith
  • Forum posts: 1

Apr 13, 2016, 4:04:50 PM via Website

Created an account just to let everyone know how I fixed a similar issue. I updated to Marshmallow, and my contacts' profile photos (and nicknames, later) disappeared. Turns out Android reset some kind of permissions options. To fix it, I just had to:

  1. Go to settings
  2. Click "Applications," then "Application manager"
  3. Scroll down to Whatsapp and click on it
  4. Go to "Permissions"
  5. Tick "Contacts" so Whatsapp has permission to use stored contact info.
  6. Problem solved.

Hope this helps someone!

Rose Bingham

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Christy 1
Christy
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 9, 2019, 3:00:19 AM via Website

Good advise Loie, but you should also mention BEFORE clearing Data/Cache that this WILL delete any chat/video/pics up until your backup point.
So if you guys don't want to lose anything, back it up, or do it after your backup.

-BTW, I also have about 1/4 of my contact pics missing. Some are pics that I've added and some are pics my friends have uploaded.
-Done the reboot/cache/data. Tried to upload a new pic in my contacts, but unable to upload one in the Whatsapp section. Read on line there might be an issue.

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Elisabeth Lynch 1
Elisabeth Lynch
  • Forum posts: 1

Feb 12, 2019, 9:14:09 PM via Website

Feb 11, 2019 - I am having this issue now too, tried all of the above (reboot/cache/data/reinstall) and still isn't fixed. Only affects a few of my contacts.

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Saurabh Mukhekar 1
Saurabh Mukhekar
  • Forum posts: 1

Apr 1, 2019, 12:21:42 AM via Website

Hey Beth,
You can try these methods to fix Whatsapp profile picture not showing problem
www[.]blogsaays[.]com/whatsapp-not-showing-display-picture-of-few-contacts/

Many users found a solution from this as WhatsApp DP privacy is a big concern

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2
Amelia0221
  • Forum posts: 4

Apr 22, 2024, 1:34:52 PM via Website

WhatsApp offers a feature called "view once" that allows you to send photos and videos that disappear from the recipient's chat after they've been viewed. Here's how to send disappearing photos on WhatsApp:-
Requirements:- You and the recipient must both be using a version of WhatsApp that supports the "view once" feature.
Steps:-
- Open the WhatsApp chat where you want to send the disappearing photo.
- Tap the paperclip icon (attachment icon) to attach media.
- Select "Camera" to take a new photo or "Photos & Videos" (Android) or "Photo & Video Library" (iPhone) to choose an existing photo from your gallery.
- Once you've selected or captured the photo you want to send, you'll see a new icon with the number "1" beside the caption bar. This icon indicates the "view once" feature.
- Tap the "1" icon to activate the "view once" feature. The icon will turn solid, indicating the photo will disappear after being viewed.
- Add a caption (optional) and then tap the "Send" button.
Once the recipient opens the photo:-
- List They will be able to see the photo once.
- List WhatsApp won't allow them to save the photo or view it again.
- List You'll see a notification in the chat indicating "Photo viewed" when the recipient opens it.

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2
Jane.M
  • Forum posts: 5

Apr 23, 2024, 9:19:40 PM via Website

The same thing happened to me :)

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1
dripyanim
  • Forum posts: 1

Apr 24, 2024, 2:50:37 PM via Website

Good advise Loie, but you should also mention BEFORE clearing Data/Cache that this WILL delete any chat/video/pics up until your backup point.

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2
sarahusman
  • Forum posts: 3

Sep 25, 2024, 11:31:00 AM via Website

It sounds like a temporary issue with WhatsApp. Profile pictures may not be displaying due to a caching problem or privacy settings of your contacts. To rectify this, try clearing the app cache in your phone's settings, ensure you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed, and check your internet connection. Additionally, ask your contacts if they have changed their privacy settings, as this might prevent their profile pictures from being visible to you. If the issue persists, consider reinstalling the app after backing up your chats.

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