WhatsApp on Mac not syncing or stuck on "downloading recent messages": fixes that work

When WhatsApp on your Mac won’t sync, the cause is almost always one of four things: the Mac has lost its connection, your phone hasn’t sent the history yet, the Mac has been logged out by WhatsApp’s linked-device rules, or the app needs an update. Work through the fixes below in order. The first four take under a minute each, and re-linking the Mac, which makes your phone send a fresh copy of your history, takes about two.

Every fix here is tied to how WhatsApp’s linked devices actually work, as described in WhatsApp’s own help center (checked 20 October 2026), so you’ll know why a step helps instead of restarting things at random.

How WhatsApp on your Mac gets its messages

Knowing three rules makes every fix below make sense.

• History comes from your phone, once. “Right after you link a device, your primary phone sends an end-to-end encrypted copy of your most recent message history to your newly linked device,” says WhatsApp’s page on message history. If that transfer stalls, you see an empty or half-filled Mac app.
• After that, the Mac stands on its own. Each linked device connects to WhatsApp independently, so new messages arrive on the Mac even with your phone switched off.
• The link expires if neglected. Linked devices “will log out if your phone is unused for over 14 days”, and WhatsApp disconnects a linked device after 30 days of inactivity (WhatsApp: about linked devices).

Match your symptom to a fix

What you see	Most likely cause	Start with
Yellow “Computer not connected” banner	No internet, or a network blocking WhatsApp	Fixes 1 and 4
Stuck downloading recent messages after linking	The phone hasn’t finished sending history	Fix 2, then fix 7
New messages arrive on the phone but not the Mac	The Mac’s connection dropped, or the app is out of date	Fixes 3, 4 and 5
Mac asks you to scan a QR code again	The Mac was logged out (14-day or 30-day rule, or removed from the phone)	Fix 6
Old chats or media missing	Linked devices only get recent history	Fix 9
Everything looks right but nothing updates	A damaged install	Fixes 7 and 8

Fix 1: Check for “Computer not connected”

Open WhatsApp on your Mac. If you see a yellow banner saying Computer not connected, WhatsApp can’t reach its servers. Check that other websites load, and that Wi-Fi is on in the menu bar. WhatsApp’s connection troubleshooting page for Mac says a poor internet connection is the most common reason chats stop sending and receiving.

Fix 2: Open WhatsApp on your phone and keep it online

If the Mac is stuck downloading recent messages, the history is still on its way from your phone. The phone has to be online for that transfer to happen.

1. Pick up your phone, open WhatsApp, and leave it on screen for a minute or two.
2. Make sure the phone has a working connection: open a website on it to check.
3. Keep both devices awake and connected while the history arrives. WhatsApp says it “can take a few minutes” depending on how many messages you have, so a phone with years of busy group chats takes longer.

Opening WhatsApp on the phone also resets the 14-day clock that keeps your Mac logged in.

Fix 3: Quit and reopen WhatsApp on the Mac

Closing the window doesn’t quit the app. Press ⌘Q while WhatsApp is in front (or right-click its Dock icon and choose Quit), wait a few seconds, then open it again. It’s the first fix on WhatsApp’s own checklist once you know the internet connection works.

Fix 4: Try another network, or turn off your VPN

Office, school and campus Wi-Fi sometimes block WhatsApp. WhatsApp suggests connecting to a different network (a phone hotspot is the quickest test), or asking your network admin to allow traffic to “web.whatsapp.com” and “.whatsapp.net”. If you use a VPN, firewall or ad-blocking DNS, turn it off briefly to see whether it’s the cause.

Fix 5: Update WhatsApp, your phone and macOS

Out-of-date linked devices cause sync bugs that updates fix. In October 2026 WhatsApp’s linked devices help page carries a notice about “a known issue for some linked devices not displaying up to one year of chat history”, and asks people to keep WhatsApp updated on linked devices because updates “may contain fixes for bugs and other issues.”

• Mac app: open the App Store, click Updates, and install any WhatsApp update. If you installed it from whatsapp.com, download the latest version from there.
• Phone: update WhatsApp from the App Store or Google Play.
• macOS: the Mac app needs macOS 12.1 or later (App Store listing). On an older Mac, switch to WhatsApp Web in an up-to-date browser.

Fix 6: Check the Mac is still linked

If the Mac shows a QR code again, it has been logged out. On your phone, open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Linked devices (iPhone) or More options > Linked devices (Android) and look for your Mac.

• Not in the list: it was logged out, either because the phone went unused for 14 days, the Mac went unused for 30 days, or someone tapped Log out on it. Link it again (fix 7).
• Four devices already linked: WhatsApp allows four linked devices at a time. Remove one you no longer use before linking the Mac.
• A device you don’t recognize: tap it and choose Log out straight away. If you’re worried someone else is reading your chats, see how to check linked devices and sessions.

Why WhatsApp keeps logging out on your Mac

Repeated logouts most often come from the 14-day rule: the primary phone is an old phone in a drawer, or a second phone you only check occasionally. Open WhatsApp on the primary phone at least once every 14 days. If you rarely use the Mac, open WhatsApp on it at least once a month too. Running a second number from that spare phone? See how to use two WhatsApp accounts on one Mac.

Fix 7: Log out on the Mac and link it again

Try this when the quicker fixes haven’t worked. Linking makes your phone send a fresh copy of your recent history, so it clears a transfer that stalled the first time.

1. On your phone, go to Linked devices, tap your Mac, and tap Log out (WhatsApp’s steps). You can also log out on the Mac in WhatsApp’s Settings > Log out.
2. Quit WhatsApp on the Mac with ⌘Q and reopen it. It shows a QR code.
3. On your phone, tap Link device (Link a device on Android; labels vary slightly by app version), confirm it’s you, and scan the code.
4. Keep the phone awake, online and on WhatsApp while the history copies over.

Nothing is deleted from your phone when you do this. Messages that were never in the copied history stay on the phone only.

Fix 8: Reinstall WhatsApp on the Mac

WhatsApp’s checklist for the Mac app also suggests uninstalling and downloading it again. Log out first (fix 7), quit the app, drag WhatsApp from your Applications folder to the Trash, then reinstall it from the Mac App Store or whatsapp.com and link it again.

Fix 9: Know what never syncs to a Mac

Some “missing” things aren’t bugs.

• Your full history. “Not all messages and chats are synced to linked devices from your phone,” WhatsApp says. The Mac app can access up to three years of history (WhatsApp for Mac); WhatsApp Web syncs less than the app.
• A few features. Viewing live location, broadcast lists and WhatsApp Flows with businesses don’t work on linked devices.
• Deleted messages. Deleting for yourself or for everyone syncs to every online device, so a message you deleted on the phone disappears from the Mac too.

If you need something older than what the Mac has, search for it on your phone.

Notifications not showing on the Mac

If messages arrive but you don’t get alerts, the cause is usually macOS, not WhatsApp. Open System Settings > Notifications, find WhatsApp, and make sure Allow notifications is on. Then check that a Focus mode isn’t silencing it, and that the chat isn’t muted in WhatsApp.

If you use WhatsApp in Tera Chat

Tera Chat is our Mac app that puts WhatsApp in one inbox with iMessage, Telegram and Instagram. It links to WhatsApp the same way WhatsApp Web does, by scanning a QR code from Linked devices, so everything above applies to it: it’s one of your four linked devices, and the 14-day rule logs it out too.

If WhatsApp chats stop updating in Tera Chat, open Settings > Messaging > WhatsApp and use Sync now, or Reconnect if the link has dropped. If your phone no longer lists it under Linked devices, it has been logged out: pair it again from the same WhatsApp row and scan a fresh QR code. Two limits to know: sending from Tera Chat is text only, and it doesn’t notify you of every new message, so keep WhatsApp’s own app for alerts. Tera Chat isn’t an official WhatsApp app, and WhatsApp’s help center warns that linking an account to an unofficial app or website “may result in a temporary or permanent account ban”. We explain that trade-off in are all-in-one messaging apps safe?

For the bigger picture of running WhatsApp on a Mac, see WhatsApp on Mac: the app vs WhatsApp Web. If you’re weighing apps that put WhatsApp next to iMessage and Telegram, start with how to combine WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram and Instagram in one Mac app and our list of the best messaging apps for Mac.

The short version

1. Look for Computer not connected and fix the network first.
2. Open WhatsApp on your phone and keep it online while history copies.
3. Quit and reopen the Mac app, then update everything.
4. Check Linked devices on the phone; if the Mac is gone, link it again.
5. Reinstall only if re-linking didn’t help.
6. Accept that full history lives on the phone.