topic Re: Whatsapp (IOS) Traffic not recognized in PaloAlto Firewall in General Topics

Whatsapp (IOS) Traffic not recognized in PaloAlto Firewall

Star_Man — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 08:26:47 GMT

Hi Everyone,

We are currently experiencing an issue where WhatsApp on iOS devices is unable to connect, while Android devices and laptops work without any problems.

After some investigation and troubleshooting, we found that even after allowing all WhatsApp applications along with their dependencies (including SSL and web-browsing), the issue persisted. However, when we temporarily allowed unknown-tcp, WhatsApp on iOS started working.

Of course, allowing all unknown-tcp traffic is not a viable long-term solution for the entire network.

What should be our next step?
Could this be related to an App-ID signature mismatch or an identification issue?

Re: Whatsapp (IOS) Traffic not recognized in PaloAlto Firewall

kiwi — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:28:45 GMT

Hi @Star_Man ,

I have seen similar reports come in regarding this misclassification.

Please ensure your firewall has installed the latest Applications and Threats content package (specifically 9042-9771 or newer).

If the issue persists after updating the content package, I recommend submitting a ticket to TAC.

They will need to capture and analyze the payload to determine why the traffic is being misclassified.

Kind regards,

Re: Whatsapp (IOS) Traffic not recognized in PaloAlto Firewall

Raido_Rattameister — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 14:45:12 GMT

It should be enough to permit unknown-tcp on port 5222 until Palo updates AppID.

Unfortunately WhatsApp provided list of IPs is not complete and you need to identify if there are other destinations with unknown-tcp on port 5222.

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/guides/network-requirements/