WhatsApp's Weaknesses on Inactive Recycling Phone Numbers Issue

VIVA – A user was surprised to discover that he could open someone else's WhatsApp account. Axios reported on Tuesday that after getting a new SIM card in France, he opened the app. Instead, Axios found someone else's messages.

The phenomenon is reported by WhatsApp to be 'very rare' which can apparently happen because phone service operators recycle phone numbers after they have been left inactive for a long time.

A 2017 report by the Federal Communications Commission found that one source stated 100,000 numbers are switched by wireless carriers every day. It also showed that approximately 35 million phone numbers are disconnected and aged each year.

The outlet wrote that users of the platform reached out to WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, but were told that the issue was a concern but that it was beyond the company's ability to fix.

It’s a problem that’s plagued the service for years. In 2020, another outlet reported that one of its writers had experienced the same issue after purchasing a pay-as-you-go SIM card.

More recently, a Vox article highlighted that the account reassignments published Tuesday indicate the issue persists to this day.

The user who brought the case to Vox reportedly told the outlet that the woman whose profile he accessed was 'lucky that she had good intentions' because her account could have gone to someone less nice.

But it's unclear whether, for Meta, the convenience factor associated with users being able to seamlessly switch between phones will be worth the case of switched accounts on its owners. So far, the tech giant has not indicate that it will change its system.