Meeting issues

I have not been able to host a successful Zoom meeting in a very long time. I send out the invitation with the link via WhatsApp. I start the meeting, but I get no participants. The participants open the link and see a screen telling them that the host has yet to start meeting. I think somehow, they are getting a different passcode than what I am using. I see conflicting passcode information. This used to be so simple and now it is a nightmare for me.