Client stuck on loading_screen (99–100%), ready and message events never fire – WhatsApp Web DOM update (2026) #109
Description
Description
Description
Since recent WhatsApp Web updates (January 2026), the client connects successfully, but the internal injection seems to fail.
Symptoms:
- Chromium opens normally
- QR code is scanned successfully
- WhatsApp Web loads visually
loading_screenreaches 99% or 100%- BUT:
readyevent never firesmessageevent never fires- Client cannot receive or send messages
This happens even in a minimal reproduction setup.
This strongly suggests that the DOM structure or internal JS objects used by whatsapp-web.js have changed and are no longer being detected correctly.
Environment
- whatsapp-web.js version: 1.34.4
- Node.js version: 18.x
- OS: Windows 10 (also reported by others on Linux/Docker)
- Auth strategy: LocalAuth
- Puppeteer: bundled (default)
Minimal reproduction code
const { Client, LocalAuth } = require('whatsapp-web.js');
const qrcode = require('qrcode-terminal');
console.log('Starting WhatsApp client...');
const client = new Client({
authStrategy: new LocalAuth(),
puppeteer: {
headless: false,
args: ['--no-sandbox', '--disable-setuid-sandbox']
}
});
client.on('qr', qr => {
qrcode.generate(qr, { small: true });
});
client.on('loading_screen', (percent, message) => {
console.log(`Loading... ${percent}%`, message);
});
client.on('ready', () => {
console.log('READY fired');
});
client.on('message', msg => {
console.log('Message received:', msg.body);
});
client.on('auth_failure', msg => console.error('AUTH FAILURE:', msg));
client.on('disconnected', reason => console.error('DISCONNECTED:', reason));
client.initialize();