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WhatsApp went down for nearly an hour

WhatsApp went down for nearly an hour

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Messages could not be sent or received

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

WhatsApp went down for its 2 billion users earlier today, but service has now been restored. The issues started at around 4PM ET and prevented WhatsApp users from sending or receiving messages on the service for nearly an hour. The WhatsApp application would still open, but a connecting loop was displayed while the service experienced issues.

“Earlier today, an internal update made to our WhatsApp servers caused some people to have trouble sending messages,” WhatsApp tells The Verge in a statement. “We quickly resolved this issue for everyone and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Facebook-owned WhatsApp rarely experiences service outages, and this is the first major outage for more than a year. WhatsApp went down alongside Instagram and Facebook last year for around two hours, before service was restored.

Facebook revealed earlier this year that WhatsApp now has 2 billion users, up from 1.5 billion and 1 billion users in 2018 and 2016, respectively. The chat app is popular across many countries in Europe and in India and Brazil.

Update, July 14th 4:45PM ET: WhatsApp has returned back online.

Update, July 14th 5:35PM ET: Added statement from WhatsApp.

Update, July 14th 5:35PM ET: Added further comment from WhatsApp.