If you are unable to send or receive messages on LinkedIn, there are a few potential reasons why your LinkedIn messaging may not be working. The most common issues are related to your account settings, the other user’s settings, connectivity problems, or bugs in the LinkedIn platform. With some troubleshooting, you should be able to resolve any messaging problems and get back to connecting with your network.
Account Settings
The first thing to check is your account settings. Go to your profile and navigate to the settings and privacy section. Here you can confirm whether you have messaging enabled and whether your account is set up to receive email notifications when you get a new message.
Make sure the “Messages from LinkedIn members” setting is switched on to allow any LinkedIn member to message you. You can also adjust it to only allow messages from people in your network. If you have disabled messages entirely, no one will be able to message you.
Additionally, check that you have email notifications enabled under “Stay up to date.” If they are disabled, you may miss incoming messages unless you regularly check LinkedIn. Turning on notifications ensures you see when someone has messaged you.
Recipient’s Settings
Even if your account is set up correctly, you also need to consider the settings of the person you are trying to message. They may have messaging disabled or restricted, which would prevent your message from going through.
There is no way to confirm someone else’s settings. But if you are confident your account is fine, this may be the reason. Consider connecting with them first if you are not already in their network. Sometimes users only allow messages from connections.
LinkedIn Connection Issues
If your account settings are enabled properly, the next thing to check is your internet connection. LinkedIn messaging relies on an active internet connection. If you have a weak signal or are offline entirely, your messages will fail to send.
Make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi or mobile data connection whenever you try to send a LinkedIn message. If you are on public Wi-Fi with a weak signal, try switching to mobile data instead. This will provide a more stable connection.
You can also try manually syncing LinkedIn to force any pending messages to send if you were previously offline. Close and relaunch the app or refresh your browser window to sync up.
LinkedIn App and Browser Issues
Problems with the LinkedIn platform itself can sometimes disrupt messaging capabilities. The apps and website may experience occasional bugs or glitches.
Make sure you are running the latest version of the mobile app and your internet browser is also up to date. Outdated software is more prone to bugs. Installing the newest updates can potentially fix any known messaging problems.
Also try restarting the LinkedIn app or logging out and back into the website. Refreshing the app or your browser window often resolves temporary glitches if there is a problem loading your messages.
Reported LinkedIn Outages
In rare cases, LinkedIn may be experiencing a widespread outage that affects messaging reliability for all users. While major outages are not common, they can prevent messages from sending and receiving properly.
Check LinkedIn’s status page at https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin to see if they have reported any known issues with their systems. You can also search social media to see if other users are experiencing problems, indicating a larger outage.
During an outage, there is unfortunately nothing you can do except wait for LinkedIn to fix the problem on their end and restore normal functionality. Your messages will send once service is back up.
Contact LinkedIn Support
If you have tried all troubleshooting steps and messaging is still not working properly, you may need to contact LinkedIn directly. Describe the specific problem you are experiencing and what steps you have already taken to resolve it.
LinkedIn customer support can investigate issues on the back end that may be causing your messaging problem. They have internal tools to diagnose bugs and glitches that regular users do not have access to.
Go to https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask and submit a request for support. You can expect a response from a LinkedIn team member via email within a few business days.
Third-Party Apps
Some third-party apps that interact with LinkedIn can interfere with normal messaging functionality. If you have connected any other apps to your LinkedIn account, try revoking their access.
Navigate to the “Apps and Services” page under your account settings. Revoke permission for any apps you suspect may be causing complications with LinkedIn messaging capabilities.
Restarting your phone or computer after revoking third-party app access can also help clear any lingering issues, allowing normal LinkedIn messaging to resume.
Reset Messaging Cache
If all else fails, resetting the LinkedIn messaging cache may help resolve persistent issues. The cache stores temporary data that can sometimes become corrupted and cause problems.
On desktop, hold the Ctrl + Shift + Delete keys and clear only the LinkedIn cookies and site data. On mobile, go to Settings > Apps > LinkedIn and choose “Clear Cache.” Then power cycle your device.
Resetting the cache forces LinkedIn messaging to start fresh, which may fix any bugs that cropped up over time and were disrupting services.
When to Try Messaging Again
With the most common LinkedIn messaging problems addressed, your messages should successfully send and receive again in most cases. However, some issues are harder to resolve on your own.
Give LinkedIn support 2-3 business days to investigate any tickets you submitted. Additionally, allow up to a day for third-party apps you disconnected to fully unlink from your account.
Keep an eye on LinkedIn’s status page if there are any ongoing platform outages. You may need to wait until engineers are able to restore service. With patience and some troubleshooting, LinkedIn messaging should be working again shortly.
