By
Godfrey Benjamin
May 13th, 2024
WhatsApp says its services have been restored after an outage that impacted millions of its users across the globe.
Popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp has restored services following a major outage. On Tuesday, the Meta-owned cross-platform instant messenger suffered a global outage that affected millions of its users. Following a string of user complaints regarding sending and receiving messages, Meta also later confirmed the downtime, 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.”
WhatsApp has now resolved the outage – which lasted for more than an hour and a half. However, as of press time, some users report that services are still not functioning properly on WhatsApp Web. Regardless, WhatsApp states that its Android and iOS apps are back to normalcy. So far, the platform is yet to share the cause of the outage.
Latest WhatsApp Outage First Since October 2021 Meta-linked Snafu
The sudden operational disruption was the first major outage for WhatsApp since the larger Meta downtime on October 5th last year. However, unlike 2021’s system failure, the latest WhatsApp outage did not affect other Meta social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Instead, Tuesday’s disruption only impacted WhatsApp’s instant messaging functions for both personal chats and group chats.
WhatsApp has an estimated 2 billion users and is particularly popular in countries such as India and Brazil. Being one of the most popular communication tools in recent times, the platform reportedly delivers approximately 100 billion messages daily. In addition, WhatsApp also handles 7 billion voice messages every day.
WhatsApp’s tremendous growth trajectory is reflected in the fact that it has now surpassed Meta’s Facebook Messenger in usage by over 30%. Users of WhatsApp are varied and include government officials, telecom service providers, and countless private individuals.
WhatsApp Welcoming Array of Business Opportunities
Speaking of businesses that use WhatsApp, reports in May stated that the platform was on course to onboard small businesses, using cloud-based tools. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the time, WhatsApp’s new cloud API services are designed to enable a better integration for businesses. Zuckerberg also said this is especially so for those businesses looking to seamlessly connect with customers. In the Meta CEO’s words:
“The best business experiences meet people where they are. Already more than 1 billion users connect with a business account across our messaging services every week. They’re reaching out for help, to find products and services, and to buy anything from big-ticket items to everyday goods.”
Furthermore, Zuckerberg expressed excitement at opening WhatsApp to businesses of varying scales across the world with WhatsApp Cloud API.
In similar news, it was reported that Meta is partnering with Indian telecom giant Jio to bring grocery shopping to WhatsApp.