Popular messaging app WhatsApp is facing some extended downtime on what could well be the very worst day for the service to run into such a problem.
Many users of the app are currently unable to receive or send any messages through the service, and considering it’s New Year’s Eve, this is leaving those who have been affected a little frustrated. With many phone lines inevitably set to struggle under the weight of people calling their loved ones at midnight to bring in the New Year, WhatsApp has proven to be a great alternative in recent years, offering users the opportunity to send through their inebriated well wishes over the ‘net.
Unfortunately, it’s looking increasingly likely that will not be the case, and therefore people are going to have to turn to one of the myriad of other services that offer the same messaging functionality in order to shout “MERRY NEW YEAR” or whatever when the clock strikes twelve tonight.
WhatsApp’s troubles follow a similar issue suffered by the BBC, after the broadcaster’s websites were brought offline. However, unlike WhatsApp this downtime was the result of a DDoS attack conducted on the company, with it finally getting its sites and its catch-up iPlayer service back online after over three hours.
It’s unsure when WhatsApp will reach full stability again, but for the time being it seems that it struggling to handle the extra pressure placed upon it due to the time of the year. Hopefully the issues it’s having will be rectified sooner rather than later, and we can all continue to use it to send messages we could otherwise send via text, Facebook, IM, Gmail, Twitter etc.
