WhatsApp outage: Thousands across UK hit by messaging and connection issues

WhatsApp users have reported issues after the web app crashed this afternoon, with thousands across the UK reporting issues.

There have been a surge in outage reports on DownDetector, with users reported they have received an error message reading: "Unexpected error occurred."

Users worldwide are experiencing issues, with DownDetector data suggesting that 65% of the reports relate to errors when trying to log in from a computer.

The most widely-used messaging app in the world, WhatsApp has over 3 billion monthly active users.

Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, has not yet publicly commented on the issue.

Frustrated users immediately took to X to vent.

One user posted: “Is Meta not paying their devs anymore? I've seen phishing sites with more effort than this.”

Another commenter wrote: “I tried to clean cookies, data, everything, and nothing works,” while one said: “I have tried several times with 4 different WhatsApps, but problem is same with all.”

It comes four years after Meta's catastrophic seven-hour blackout that cost the tech giant an estimated $100million and forced engineers to physically visit data centres to restore service.