Thousands of desperate WhatsApp users reported major issues as the popular messaging app went down tonight.
Just before 10pm on Thursday, more than 40,000 users reported that WhatsApp was not functioning for them.
By 10.08pm the number of issues reported dropped to just over 36,000.- And by 10.49pm the app was back up and running.
Some users reported they had issues with their server connection and sending messages and others said the app was down.
Some took to Twitter to say they had tried to turn their WiFi on and off before realising it was WhatsApp.
The messaging service going down is one of the trending topics on Twitter at the moment.
It's not immediately clear what caused the issue.
WhatsApp appeared to be down in the UK in large cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Other foreign-language Down Detector sites also reported WhatsApp being down, meaning the issue had a global reach.
More than 500 million people use WhatsApp each day and many users took to social media to air their annoyance.
One wrote: "Me realizing WhatsApp is down after restarting my WiFi 50 times and uninstalling the app 6 times !!"
Another added: "Yes WhatsApp is down again."
One said: "Probably explains why my video calls were cutting off so often."
Others made light of the inconvenient situation.
One joked: "Tweeps coming to Twitter to confirm if WhatsApp is really down."
Another said: "Me apologising to my WiFi after blaming it for WhatsApp being down."
WhatsApp tweeted: "You may be experiencing some issues using WhatsApp at the moment.
"We’re aware and working to get things running smoothly again. We’ll keep you updated and in the meantime, thanks for your patience."
Facebook also appears to be suffering smaller problems, as more than 200 users are reporting an issue with the social media platform.
Facebook and WhatsApp are both owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms.
Yesterday, users were unable to access their emails via Gmail accounts this evening, with reports the system is down for some.
Downdetector indicated the email service, used by around 1.5billion people worldwide, was having issues stopping people from accessing messages.
Several people reported on social media that they were having issues getting to inboxes, with many asking for help from Gmail’s official account.
