Facebook, the owner of the app, has taken steps to temporarily ban third-party apps from the platform. This is not great news for people using knock-off versions of WhatsApp.

Unfortunately, it seems the owners of the App are taking the job of keeping the app exclusive quite seriously. In the meantime, you can check out these other messaging app options.

In its FAQ page, WhatsApp says:

“If you received an in-app message stating your account is “Temporarily banned”, this means that you’re likely using an unsupported version of WhatsApp instead of the official WhatsApp app. If this is the case, you must download the official app to continue using WhatsApp.”

They further clarified that they don’t support third-party applications like WhatsApp Plus and GB WhatsApp and they cannot ‘validate their security practices’. WhatsApp, in the statement, also added:

“If you’re using an app other than WhatsApp Plus or GB WhatsApp, we recommend saving your chat history before downloading the official WhatsApp app.”

Security has been a major issue for Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg recently expressed that messaging is the future of social media apps. It is no wonder that he is trying to tidy up loose ends.

They have also included the steps to take to restore and archive old chats, specifically for WhatsApp Plus and GB WhatsApp, before deleting the apps.

Users of the third-party apps have been getting messages saying, “Your phone number is banned from using WhatsApp. Contact support for help.” This, however, is not permanent. Just switch back to the main WhatsApp app after you have backed up your chats so you don’t lose them.