Today, WhatsApp is down for many users around the world. Millions of users were unable to send messages, photos, and other media over the internet. However, the messaging service helps prevent any SMS fees but the iPhone and Android app went down on October 4, 2021. The app is stuck on a “Connecting” message for many users. This is appearing for users who have full WiFi and/or mobile signal. The official WhatsApp social media accounts aren’t yet acknowledging the issue. The app’s developers are aware and working to get both the iPhone and Android applications back online. There are surely many frustrated users waiting to carry on their conversations with millions using the app to communicate each day to continue their internet calls and share the latest memes.
Users should use alternatives like iMessage and Facebook Messenger. Standard SMS messages are good too but, if sending images, be wary of additional costs for MMS. They can fix WhatsApp stuck on “Connecting”. To fix the problem, users must do the following:
- Turn WiFi off and back on: If the issue is on the user’s end, disabling WiFi and re-enabling it can help the app reconnect.
- Turn mobile data off and back on: If the user is without WiFi, disabling and then re-enabling mobile data can assist the app in reconnecting.
- Restart the phone: Restarting the phone can sometimes help kickstart WhatsApp.
- Wait for a fix: Having ruled out the issues on the user’s end, it can be assumed that the problem is with the WhatsApp service. Users must wait for a fix.
You are not the only one if you can’t access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp. The issue started at approximately 11:38 AM ET. Downdetector started logging a spike in outage reports across all 4 Facebook-owned services. A spokesperson for the company, Andy Stone said at 12:07 PM ET that the company was working to resolve the issue quickly. The error page you see when trying to connect to the platforms suggests a Domain Name System (DNS) error is responsible for the outage. Downdetector shows more than 30,000 outage reports for Facebook alone, with another 20,000 tied to Instagram.
