WhatsApp down: Messaging app breaks, leaving people unable to send or receive messages

Reports of outages surged as New Years' Eve approached

Zuckerberg told Brazilians to use Facebook Messenger while WhatsApp is blocked (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

WhatsApp has broken, leaving people unable to send or receive texts through one of the world's most popular messaging apps.

It wasn't clear what caused the problems, which began shortly after 4.30PM UK time. Reports of issues surged after that, according to website DownDetector.

The problems were primarily focused in the UK and Western Europe, according to DownDetector, though it isn't clear whether the issues or just the reports were located there.

The issues began just as the night of New Years Eve was beginning, for many around the world, likely being one of the most busy nights for the service. It also came at the end of a day of high-profile outages, which began with problems at the BBC in the morning.

The last time WhatsApp revealed its user numbers, in September, it said that over 900 million people were on the service. But that has likely grown quickly — it said at the same time that it had gained 100 million new users in five months.