Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WhatsApp Users Are Reporting Outages Worldwide (metro.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the commence-panic dept.

sombragris writes: WhatsApp, a proprietary instant messaging platform owned by Facebook and used by millions of users, is currently down according to user reports from various parts of the world. There's no official word yet on the cause but I'm among the many affected by the outages. UPDATE 5/3/17: "Earlier today, WhatsApp users in all parts of the world were unable to access WhatsApp for a few hours. We have now fixed the issue and apologize for the inconvenience," WhatsApp said in an email late Wednesday afternoon.

7 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I call for a moment of silence by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WhatsApp is valuable to those who live in countries where cell phone carriers charge for SMS text messages.

  2. I use it by chispito · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whatsapp is a relatively lean and unencumbered messaging app compared to others I've tried, and way more reliable than SMS--even with this apparent outage.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    1. Re:I use it by Guybrush_T · · Score: 3, Insightful

      +1.

      It works well internationally. Signal is the other alternative. In all cases, such apps are quite needed : MMS picture quality is crap, international texting/MMS costs a lot in many countries .. or sometimes doesn't even work.

    2. Re:I use it by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Email is better

      By what metric?

      Instant?: No
      Encrypted?: No
      Message gets to end user instantly without changing hands a thousand times?: No
      Message guaranteed to get to target and not null routed, reported as spam?: No
      Delivery confirmation?: No
      Able to support video calls?: No
      Able to support audio calls?: No
      Able to send pictures and attachments knowing exactly what the limits are and not being randomly rejected?: No
      Free of spam?: No

      Actually the not being tied to a corporation thing is about the only thing email has going for it. I can't think of a single upside to email otherwise.

  3. Re:If it is not by lucm · · Score: 2

    it is not much use.

    There's 30 billion messages sent daily on Whatsapp. I don't know what you consider of "much use".

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  4. Re:If it is not by Geeky · · Score: 2

    People outside of the geek bubble don't care about peer to peer. Mostly they don't care about encryption either (although WhatsApp does have end to end encryption). They care about what their friends use. Whatsapp has a critical mass. I use it because of the people I want to talk to, not because of its technical qualities.

    And at least it's not Facebook Messenger... although it still surprises me that FB haven't eliminated it to have a single messaging platform to support, given that they own WhatsApp.

    I'm also not sure how you'd manage to get peer to peer working on mobile - what with battery considerations and lack of permanent connectivity.

    --
    Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
  5. Re:I call for a moment of silence by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    Then they can use something else.

    Sure. An entire country, please switch over to Facebook or something else quickly. Share all you contacts among each other so you can send your messages. Quick, whatsapp is down!

    Not gonna happen. Ever.