WhatsApp is down in a major outage

WhatsApp is one of the most popular chat apps, with about 2 billion users relying on it to exchange messages with their friends and family daily. It offers rich texting features like iMessage and is end-to-end encrypted like Apple’s default iPhone chat app. So when WhatsApp is down, people worldwide will notice and probably flock to alternative texting methods.

As of this writing, there’s a major WhatsApp outage around the world, with Meta likely working on the problem. However, not all of Meta’s apps are down. You can access Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram without a problem.

According to The Verge, WhatsApp went down at around 3:00 AM ET. Users got a “connecting” message at the time.

We can confirm the connection is down in Europe as well, and there’s nothing you can do to fix it. You might think your internet is down when you see the “connecting” status at the top of WhatsApp. But fiddling with Wi-Fi and cellular settings isn’t required. It won’t bring the app up.

Moreover, it’s obvious you’re looking at a WhatsApp-only outage if you try other chat apps. Like Facebook’s Messenger app, which works without a hitch.

WhatsApp doesn’t work on computers either, where it’ll keep retrying to connect.

“We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages, and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible,” Meta spokesperson Joshua Breckman told The Verge.

Per Downdetector, more than 63,000 outages were reported in the last few hours as of this writing. People from various regions confirmed in the comments section that WhatsApp is down.

This isn’t the first time it has happened, either. But the previous WhatsApp outage also impacted Meta’s other services at the time — Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

The only way to fix the problem is to wait for Meta to restore service. Until then, you can use any number of competing chat apps to stay in contact with loved ones and colleagues.

UPDATE: Whatsapp is back online. Meta restore the service at around 6:00 AM ET, and the chat app should work on both mobile and desktop. It’s unclear what caused the outage, however.