4 Ways to Fix Delayed WhatsApp Notifications on Android

Try Basic Fixes

• Update WhatsApp: Your WhatsApp notifications might not work as expected if you’re using an outdated or buggy version of the app. Try updating WhatsApp from the Google Play Store and see if that helps.
• Lock WhatsApp in the recent apps menu: When you remove WhatsApp from the recent apps list on Android, the app stops working in the background. Thankfully, many Android skins, like One UI, Color OS, MIUI, and others, allow you to lock apps in the background so you don’t accidentally close them. Open the recent apps menu, tap the WhatsApp icon and select Keep open.
• Disable battery and data saver mode: Turning on the battery-saver mode on your Android could keep apps like WhatsApp from working efficiently in the background. Similarly, if you’ve enabled the data saver mode on your Android, WhatsApp won’t be able to use your data in the background. Hence, it’s a good idea to disable both data and battery-saver mode.

Fix 1: Turn Off Battery Restrictions for WhatsApp

On Android, you can impose battery restrictions on individual apps to keep them from running in the background. While this does improve battery life, it can cause notifications from those apps to arrive late.

To allow unrestricted battery usage to WhatsApp:

Step 1: Long-press on the WhatsApp icon and tap the info icon from the menu that appears.

Step 2: Go to Battery and select Unrestricted or Optimized from the following menu.

Fix 2: Check Do Not Disturb Schedules

You can configure the Do Not Disturb mode on Android to turn on automatically at specific times. This can cause Android to pause notifications for a set period of time, giving the impression that notifications are arriving late. To avoid this, you’ll need to ensure the Do Not Disturb mode isn’t configured to turn on automatically.

Step 1: Open the Settings app and head to Notifications > Do not disturb.

Step 2: Under Schedule, turn off the toggles next to your DND schedules.

Fix 3: Reset WhatsApp Notification Settings

WhatsApp allows you to modify notification preferences from its in-app settings menu. If these settings are not configured correctly, it could cause notifications to stop working. Instead of going through each notification setting individually, it’s easier to reset all your WhatsApp notification settings and start over.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your phone. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select Settings.

Step 2: Go to Notifications.

Step 3: Tap the three-dot icon at the top and select Reset notification settings. Then, select Reset to confirm.

Fix 4: Clear WhatsApp Cache

Outdated cache data can affect WhatsApp’s performance on your phone and delay app notifications. Thankfully, Android makes it simple to get rid of redundant WhatsApp cache data.

Step 1: Long-press the WhatsApp icon and tap the info icon from the resulting menu.

Step 2: Go to Storage and tap the Clear cache option at the bottom.