WhatsApp service restored following global outage

WhatsApp service appears to be restored after experiencing technical problems this morning.

Update, 10:20am:

 WhatsApp has come back online for many users after a service outage knocked the popular messaging app offline for around two hours this morning.

The Meta-owned platform has not yet confirmed the cause of the fault but had told users earlier on Tuesday that it was working to fix it.

Thousands of reports were made to the 'Down Detector' website - with people saying issues started just before 8am this morning.

The number of searches for Viber increased by 132% since 8am this morning, around the time the app went down and Google Search Data also shows a 2400% increase in traffic for the term 'Whatsapp Alternatives.'

Earlier: Messaging platform WhatsApp has gone down for users across the country.

Thousands have taken to social media to complain that they are unable to send or receive messages on the popular Meta-owned platform.

WhatsApp has confirmed it is aware of the issue and is working to fix the problem.

After opening the app on Tuesday morning, users have found that while they can still access their conversations, the app is failing to deliver new messages, or send any that they attempt to transmit.

A persistent message is showing for many users at the top of the app, saying it is “connecting” to the server, but then appears to fail to do so, leaving users unable to send or receive any messages.

According to the service status website Downdetector, users began reporting issues with WhatsApp at just before 8am on Tuesday morning, with more than 12,000 reports of issues reported to the website by 8.30am.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging platforms in Ireland and around the world and is estimated to have more than two billion active users globally.

In a statement, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible.”