Two months ago, we reported that WhatsApp was temporarily banning users who were using an unofficial fork named ‘GBWhatsApp.’ A surprising number of people use these WhatsApp forks and WhatsApp is clamping down on them hard.

WhatsApp is now threatening permanent bans to those people who use these unofficial WhatsApp forks.

“If you received an in-app message stating your account is ‘Temporarily banned’, this means that you’re likely using an unsupported version of WhatsApp instead of the official app,” the statement said. “If you don’t switch to the official app after being temporarily banned, your account might be permanently banned from using WhatsApp.”

WhatsApp says that these ‘altered’ versions of WhatsApp like GB WhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus violate their Terms of Service and can’t validate their ‘security practices.’

WhatsApp has offered a way for people to switch back to the official app from GB WhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus. You will need to backup your chat history first before moving back to the official WhatsApp app.

GB WhatsApp users

Wait for your temporary ban to end Go to More options > Chats > Backup chats Go to Phone settings > tap Storage > Files Find the ‘GB WhatsApp’ folder, tap and hold to select it In the upper right corner, tap more > rename and rename the folder to “WhatsApp” Go back to the Play Store or download the official app directly from WhatsApp (if you don’t have the official WhatsApp app) From the official WhatsApp app, verify your phone number On the Backup found screen, tap Restore > Next

WhatsApp will now load your existing chats.

WhatsApp Plus users

WhatsApp Plus is a little different from GB WhatsApp. If your chat history was previously saved, WhatsApp says that it will automatically transfer to the official WhatsApp app. You’ll only need to follow steps 6,7 and 8 from the GB WhatsApp users section.