Facebook-owned services, WhatsApp and Instagram, have been restored after a 45-minute breakdown on Friday, leaving online users frustrated and unable to connect.
The social tools, all owned by Facebook, including the platform’s own Messenger service, were first reported as not being available from 06:30pm on Friday.
Users visiting Instagram online get a simple error message saying ‘5xx Server Error’, with no other information provided.
Some Facebook users have reported being able to sign in to the app, although 63% of reports on downdetector.com suggest there is a ‘total blackout’.
There was a sudden spike of reports on down detector for the Facebook-owned services, with the outage affecting the entire Facebook social product line.
But tweeting about an hour later, @WhatsApp, wrote, “Thanks for your patience, that was a long 45 minutes but we are back! #WhatsAppDown”
Also, @instagram wrote, “Some people were having issues with their Instagram accounts earlier, but we’re back now. The issue’s been fixed and we’re sorry for the trouble. #instagramdown”
The Facebook-owned apps, which have some three billion users worldwide, report occasional outages, including one last July, which often spark an array of comments on other social platforms.
