WhatsApp is still the preferred platform for sharing videos between friends and family, even if the limit is 25 MB. You are unlikely to find your contacts on rival platforms such as Telegram and Signal. But what if you can’t play videos received on WhatsApp?
Using a nifty little trick, you can send high quality videos on WhatsApp. But those tricks are irrelevant when you can’t play the videos you receive via WhatsApp. Here’s how you can fix WhatsApp not playing videos on iPhone
1. Download the Full Video
First, you must make sure you have downloaded the received video complete because incomplete download will not play.
Open a conversation in WhatsApp on iPhone and download the video. Do not play the video until the download process is finished. Once you have completely downloaded the video, press the Play button.
2. Save video in the Photos app
If you have not enabled automatic saving for videos in WhatsApp, the video will not appear in the Photos app on iPhone. If you are having trouble playing videos on WhatsApp, you can save the video in the Photos app.
You can manually save the video or enable auto-save for videos on a Wi-Fi connection. We will show you the two tricks.
Step 1: Open a conversation on WhatsApp.
Step 2: Once you download a video, tap it and select the Share button in the bottom left corner.
Step 3: Tap Save and play the same video in the Photos app on iPhone.
You can enable auto-save for downloaded videos on WhatsApp. Perform the steps below to make changes.
Step 1: Open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
Step 2: Select Storage and data and enable automatic media download for videos.
Step 3: Go back to the main Settings menu and select Chats.
Step 4: Enable the Save to Camera Roll option.
Whenever you receive a video on WhatsApp, the app will automatically download and save it to the Photos app.
3. Ask the other person to send the video again
If you are trying to open a video you received a long time ago, it will not play if you did not download it. The app will throw an error that says, “This video is no longer available on WhatsApp.” You will have to ask the person to resend the same video.
4. Check WhatsApp status
When someone sends you a video via WhatsApp, the video is saved on the company’s server. From there, you can request to download the video to your device to watch/play it.
If WhatsApp servers face downtime, you will not be able to download the selected video, let alone play it. You can head to download detector to confirm the problem. In that case, you will notice that WhatsApp fails basic tasks like sending a message or a photo.
Give WhatsApp some time to fix the problem from its end. You can follow WhatsApp live outage updates from social media channels.
5. Play MKV files in WhatsApp
Did you receive an.MKV video file in a WhatsApp conversation? WhatsApp’s built-in video player cannot play.MKV files on iPhone. You must save the video in the Files app and play it with VLC media player.
Step 1: Open a conversation in WhatsApp and press the Save button to download the.MKV file.
Step 2: Tap the file and select the Share button in the upper right corner.
Step 3: Select Save to Files and save the video to a desired location in the Files application.
The iPhone Photos application also cannot play.MKV files. You must use VLC media player to watch the video.
Step 4: Open the App Store, search for VLC media player and download it.
Step 5: Open the Files app and navigate to a folder where you saved the video. Tap the Share menu in the lower left corner to open the video.
Step 7: Select VLC from the suggestion.
And voila! The.MKV video will start playing in the VLC app on iPhone.
Play WhatsApp videos on iPhone
An outdated WhatsApp app on your iPhone might have a corrupted video player built in. You should update WhatsApp to the latest version from the App Store and fix the problem.
What trick worked for you to solve the problem? Share your findings in the comments below.