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Harriet Brewis
Oct 25, 2022
WhatsApp down: Users unable to send or receive messages
Independent
Struggling to use WhatsApp this morning? You’re not the only one.
The messaging app has crashed for users across the UK, with messages failing to send properly.
The blip means that you can type and send messages but they’re not actually reaching their recipients.
Lots of people are also seeing a note at the top of the app saying it is “connecting” to the server... but then doesn't.
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Naturally, frustrated users were quick to share their anguish on Twitter:
\u201cWhen your WhatsApp is playing up but you come to Twitter and see that everyone else is having the same problem #WhatsAppDown\u201d— Jamie (@Jamie) 1666682394
\u201cWhen WhatsApp is Down.\n#whatsappdown\u201d— \u0245M\u0245N DU\u0412\u039eY (@\u0245M\u0245N DU\u0412\u039eY) 1666682383
\u201cSo I was blaming my Internet but actually I got to check on Twitter that the WhatsApp is down. @WhatsApp\n#whatsappdown #WhatsApp\u201d— CH Mubashar Hussain (@CH Mubashar Hussain) 1666684569
\u201cWhatsApp be like:\u201d— \ud835\ude85\ud835\ude8a\ud835\ude95\ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude9d\ud835\ude92\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8a \ud83c\udf83 (@\ud835\ude85\ud835\ude8a\ud835\ude95\ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude9d\ud835\ude92\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8a \ud83c\udf83) 1666681884
\u201cWhatsApp Engineer right now \n\n#WhatsAppDown\u201d— MB (@MB) 1666682789
\u201cEveryone checking in on Twitter when WhatsApp or Instagram or Facebook is down\u201d— Adam (@Adam) 1666683921
\u201cMe after restarting my phone, putting it on airplane mode and uninstalling whatsapp and then coming to Twitter \ud83d\ude2d#whatsappdown\u201d— Anjali (@Anjali) 1666683516
\u201cWhatsApp influencers waiting for their messages to load.\u201d— Mr.AHENKORAH\ud83e\uddcd\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f (@Mr.AHENKORAH\ud83e\uddcd\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f) 1666684440
\u201cNot today WhatsApp!\u201d— Kate McCann (@Kate McCann) 1666684340
According to the service status website Down Detector, users began reporting issues just before 8am on Tuesday morning, with more than 12,000 reports posted by 8.30am.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world, and is estimated to have more than two billion active users globally.
The Meta-owned company released a statement just after 9am saying: “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.”
Among the most concerned users of the app are likely to be Conservative MPs – the platform is a widely used tool among backbenchers, Cabinet ministers, and their aides to discuss public messaging and regularly gauge the mood of the Parliamentary party.
And on the day of a Cabinet reshuffle – as Rishi Sunak installs himself as the new Prime Minister – many MPs hopeful of landing a ministerial job will currently be without a vital way of sounding out advisers and contacts on their own chances and the fate of their colleagues.
The app has previously been identified as the communications tool of choice for MPs plotting against their leader, and Boris Johnson is said to have often been sent summaries of key Government information via the app during his time in Downing Street.
In other words, chop chop, WhatsApp – sort it out.
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