WhatsApp has been yanked from the Windows Phone store due to “technical issues” when running on Windows Phone 8.1.
Developers testing the beta version of the app on the preview version of Windows Phone 8.1 have found it doesn’t run properly, or at all, on the operating system, although it still works on Windows Phone 8.
Searching the Windows Phone Store for WhatsApp now returns the message “We couldn’t find a match. Try a different spelling or search term.”
It is suspected the company, which was recently acquired by Facebook, may have withdrawn the app as the updated mobile OS is expected to launch within the next five weeks.
A severely dysfunctional app could lead users to abandon the service, which would be bad news for Facebook, which is trying to break into the chat app market.
An email allegedly emanating from the WhatsApp team published on Spanish website Windows Phone Apps said the service would “not be available for the next few hours” as the company was updating the app.
However it seems this timescale was somewhat ambitious, as the email was sent two days ago.
PC Pro contacted WhatsApp for comment on the situation, but was yet to receive a response at the time of publication.
However, Windows Phone Central has been given the following statement: “Unfortunately due to technical issues, we have chosen to un-publish WhatsApp Messenger on the Windows Phone platform.
“We are working closely with Microsoft to resolve the issues and hope to return to the store shortly. We apologize to our users for the temporary inconvenience.”
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