WhatsApp down: Chat app comes back online after hours-long outage

(AFP via Getty Images)

WhatsApp appears to be back online after a mysterious outage stopped users sending or receiving messages for hours.

The outage began around at 8am UK time, and meant that users were unable to post new messages on WhatsApp or get them from anyone else.

Around two hours later, the service appeared to be restored, and a flood of new messages arrived on people’s phones.

Parent company Meta said that the problem had been fixed – but did not give any detail on what had caused it.

WhatsApp users across the UK and the rest of the world awoke on Tuesday to find that while most could access their conversations, they were unable to send or receive any new messages.

A persistent message was showing for many users at the top of the app, saying it is “connecting” to the server, but was never able to complete this process, leaving them offline.

The outage had come at an unfortunate moment for Conservative MPs who had been left without a crucial communications tool on the day Rishi Sunak enters office as Prime Minister and begins a Cabinet reshuffle.

WhatsApp is widely known to be a popular service among members of Parliament.

And on the day of a Cabinet reshuffle, many MPs hopeful of landing a ministerial job would have been without a vital way of sounding out advisers and contacts on their own chances and the fate of their colleagues.

The app has previously been identified as the communications tool of choice for MPs plotting against their leader, and Boris Johnson is said to have often been sent summaries of key Government information via the app during his time in Downing Street.

Many users had taken to social media to express their frustration at the issue.

In response, WhatsApp apologised to users for the outage.

“We know people had trouble sending messages on WhatsApp today,” a spokesperson for the messaging platform said.

“We’ve fixed the issue and apologise for any inconvenience.

Additional reporting by Press Association