WhatsApp is down due to server issues [Update: Now working after 4-hour outage]

WhatsApp, the messaging app that you probably heard got bought by Facebook this week, is in the midst of a 90-minute four-hour outage right now. This is the first significant period of downtime that the service has experienced since the acquisition deal was announced.

Update: WhatsApp is working for us once again having been down for four hours. The company has now confirmed that the issue is fixed.

Perhaps due to a rush of new users following its media coverage, we here at TNW are currently unable to send messages across the service. That’s something that the company has acknowledged and confirmed that it is working to fix:

sorry we currently experiencing server issues. we hope to be back up and recovered shortly.

— WhatsApp Status (@wa_status) February 22, 2014

Breaking News reports that the downtime began around 11:00 PST (14:00 EST). That timing seems to add up since the first wave of users noticing problems began to surface on Twitter around then.

WhatsApp is down..damn you Facebook #Outrage

— Prem Mohanty (@philipbkk) February 22, 2014

And so, WhatsApp goes down ! #Facebook

— Karthik K (@ImKarthikK) February 22, 2014

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Many Twitter users have linked the downtime to the Facebook announcement — that’s a reaction that you might expect although we can chalk this down to a rush in usage during US weekend time, or just the fact that outages happen from time to time.

If you’re one of the many WhatsApp addicts that hasn’t fled for another service — like Telegram Messenger — then we recommend keeping your eyes on the company’s status account on Twitter: @wa_status. We will, of course, keep you posted too.

Update: Interestingly, it looks like Telegram is being slammed by new registrations, perhaps as a direct result of this outage:

This is crazy. We’are getting 100 new registrations every second. Trying hard to prevent connection issues in Europe.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) February 22, 2014

The SMS gateways we use to send registration codes are overloaded and slow — 100 SMS per second is too much. Trying to find a solution.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) February 22, 2014

Image via LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images