Instagram and WhatsApp are back online after an outage this afternoon
Facebook's apps experienced some serious issues.
Facebook's apps experienced some serious issues Friday afternoon. Instagram and WhatsApp appear to be coming back online after going down for nearly an hour.
Thanks for your patience, that was a long 45 minutes but we are back! #WhatsAppDown
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) March 19, 2021
The source of the outage wasn't immediately clear, but WhatsApp and Instagram seemed to be the most affected. While they were down, both apps were unable to refresh, with WhatsApp stuck "connecting." Likewise, Instagram displayed an error message that it "couldn't refresh feed." Users also reported issues accessing Facebook and Messenger, according to downdetector.com, which tracks service outages.
There are a number of issues currently affecting Facebook products, including gaming streams. Multiple teams are working on it, and we'll update you when we can.
— Facebook Gaming (@FacebookGaming) March 19, 2021
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A Twitter account for Facebook Gaming stated that "a number of issues" were affecting various Facebook services and that "multiple teams" were working on a fix.
Update 2:30 PM ET: This post has been updated to note that Facebook's apps have come back online since this story first published.
Update 3:15 PM ET: In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the outages were cause by a "technical issue," but didn't elaborate on the cause. “Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have trouble accessing some Facebook services. We resolved this issue for everyone, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”