How Do I Know If WhatsApp Is Down?

When using WhatsApp you want to make sure it works every time you log into the app on your smartphone or tablet. While it is often in good working order and very reliable, it is susceptible to the same outages other networks can experience. You can check multiple sites to see if there are reports of outages. You can also check your WhatsApp and device before turning to websites or social media.

Jeff Whelpley is the editor / author responsible for this content.
Dec 9, 2022

WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends around the world, offering free video and voice calling and free text messaging through your handheld smart device. It is very reliable, but with all apps and programs, it does have the chance of going down. How do you know if WhatsApp is down? You can contact WhatsApp user support here for a status update, and you can read below on how to determine if WhatsApp is working or not.

With over 1.5 billion users, there is always a chance your WhatsApp will stop working. There are some ways you can check to see if WhatsApp is down, or if the app is simply freezing on your device.

Frozen App

Before researching further to see if it is a WhatsApp system failure that caused it to go down, check to make sure it isn't an issue with your device. Follow these steps if WhatsApp isn't working on your phone or tablet:

  1. First check your app to make sure you have the most up to date version. If possible, update WhatsApp on your device and try it again. If it still doesn't work, go to the next step.
  2. Close WhatsApp on your device.
  3. Power down your phone or tablet completely.
  4. Restart your smart device.
  5. Reopen WhatsApp and see if it is now operational. If not, uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it (you may need to restart your device again as well).

If the above steps don't work, WhatsApp may be experiencing an outage in your area or system wide. There are a number of ways you can check for a system wide or regional WhatsApp outage. You can find out if WhatsApp is down through a number of websites that track apps, gaming systems, utilities or other services. Another way to see if WhatsApp is down is to turn to social media for posts about WhatsApp coverage and availability. News outlets may also cover stories when there are mass outages of WhatsApp and other popular applications.

Sites that Track Outages

Some sites that track WhatsApp outages include the following:

  1. Is The Service Down UK: This website gives real-time information on how WhatsApp is operating including an outage map to show which regions are experiencing issues. It also gives a breakdown of the types of issues users are reporting.
  2. Down Detector: This website allows WhatsApp users to post messages when the app is down to include what time the user noticed the issue, the user's location and any other WhatsApp issues.
  3. Outage Report: Like the others mentioned, this site allows WhatsApp users to report how WhatsApp is performing at that time.

These sites rely on customer reports to track WhatsApp outages, so the information you receive may not indicate a widespread outage, rather it could be an issue with the user's device. Using these sites can give you an indication if WhatsApp is down for multiple users or if it seems to be localized to your device. For more assistance, contact WhatsApp customer support here.

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Jeff truly believes that all customers deserve good service. He’s been building tools, inventing phone tree hacks and helping customers since before his days at GetHuman. He's also a Google GDE and involved in the Angular community.
How Do I Know If WhatsApp Is Down?

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