Whatsapp video previews before sending not showing up?

[toodlesoodles]

Hi,

I've just bought a refurbished S7 and noticed that when I record a video on whatsapp, using either the front or back camera, before sending it I can't preview the video. I can press play on it and I can hear the sound from the video but the picture itself is just black. The preview along the top shows fine. Once the video is sent however, it plays fine. Anyone know why this is? It's never been an issue on any other android (S3, S4, S6 and S8) I've owned.

https://imgur.com/a/jJm5LKn
A link to a picture incase my description of the problem was poor lol.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi , welcome!

You can try clearing cache,data,force stop the app see if it works again, to do that long press WhatsApp icon tap info>scroll to storage clear data,cache and back out one and force close.

 

[mustang7757]

[Moved to WhatsApp Forums]

 

[toodlesoodles]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. I tried forcing the app to stop and also clearing the cache but unfortunately this has not resolved this issue.

My understanding is that clearing data would delete pictures, messages etc? I don't want to lose those so I haven't tried that.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. I tried forcing the app to stop and also clearing the cache but unfortunately this has not resolved this issue.

My understanding is that clearing data would delete pictures, messages etc? I don't want to lose those so I haven't tried that.

Just make sure everything back up , hit back up now . Its the only way we going see if this fixes it , these are troubleshooting steps ,it might require uninstalling and re install also.

 

[Javier P]

Welcome to the forums. Is your phone rooted? I found a similar report on a rooted device.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/help-whatsapp-videopreview-black-screen-t4056495/amp/

 

[toodlesoodles]

Just ran a root checker app and apparently it's not?

 

[toodlesoodles]

I've just tried the fix that person suggested (turning on force GPU rendering) and that has fixed it. Will leaving that option on permanently have an adverse affect on my phone or it's performance?

 

[Javier P]

I've just tried the fix that person suggested (turning on force GPU rendering) and that has fixed it. Will leaving that option on permanently have an adverse affect on my phone or it's performance?

Probably not. Just keep an eye for any battery drain or any other app misbehaving because of this.

 

[toodlesoodles]

Yeah I just read that you might lose 15% battery time with it on so I've turned it off as I find the battery life pretty poor as is. I don't try to send that many videos over whatsapp so it's no problem have it off and simply turn it on should I be sending a video over whatsapp.

Thanks guys.

 

[Javier P]

Yeah I just read that you might lose 15% battery time with it on so I've turned it off as I find the battery life pretty poor as is. I don't try to send that many videos over whatsapp so it's no problem have it off and simply turn it on should I be sending a video over whatsapp.

Thanks guys.

Agreed with you, better switching it on & off when really needed. Glad you managed to fix it and thanks for the follow up. It'll be very helpful for other users with a similar problem.

 

[mustang7757]

GPU rendering in developer settings?

 

[Javier P]

GPU rendering in developer settings?

Yes.

 

[Javier P]

Whatever the reason it seems that the WhatsApp app doesn't have that option on by default.

 

[mustang7757]

Whatever the reason it seems that the WhatsApp app doesn't have that option on by default.

Yeah , might be temp fix until a update maybe .

 

[Javier P]

Yeah , might be temp fix until a update maybe .

I thought that Developer Option was kind of a relic. Not sure why the video preview is not working for the OP, it's not a widespread issue.

 

[mustang7757]

I thought that Developer Option was kind of a relic. Not sure why the video preview is not working for the OP, it's not a widespread issue.

Sometimes comes in handy those settings especially older devices.

 

[Javier P]

Sometimes comes in handy those settings especially older devices.

True.

 

[wkelvinf]

Hello guys, I joined this forum just to confirm that for a long time now I have been having the same issue with my S7 exactly like the OP shielded and the same solution to turn on force GPU rendering fixed the issue. But I will turn it back off.

So this should definitely be a WhatsApp issue with some S7s.

 

[Rick Sanchez clone I guess]

If you can download WhatsApp to another device you can switch back and forth between it and your current device whenever you like. I have an old phone that I use although I’ve also used tablets in the past. When you sign into WhatsApp on the older device it will send the code to your current device. Just take that code and put it in your older device and your good to go. WhatsApp will automatically sign you out of your current device. The cool thing is that it will remember everything you had on your current device when you log back into it. I don’t think you even need to run a backup before you do this but don’t quote me on that. I guess I can find out and get back on that. Do not let WhatsApp auto save backups though. Just run a one time backup if you have to. I guess the best part of this is that you can clear all the data on your old device and not worry about losing anything valuable. Also sometimes it’s cool to have WhatsApp work on a separate device. Then again sometimes it’s annoying to have WhatsApp work on a separate device. You can already log back into your current device but remember it won’t have the stuff you entered on your older device unless you do a backup but then you might as well just do a backup on your new device. I switch between an Apple and an Android phone. Don’t know if that makes a difference.. I don’t even know if this post is making sense anymore. Oh well I’ll try to get back on whether you need to run a backup..