WhatsApp DOWN – Chat app not working for THOUSANDS of users hit by connecting issues

UPDATE TWO: WhatsApp is back up and running now after an outage hit users in the UK, Europe, the US and South America.

Reports of WhatsApp down on Down Detector has fallen from a peak of 3,787 to just a handful now.

While WhatsApp users have flocked to social networking site Twitter to report the chat app as running smoothly once again.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “We experienced a brief outage but are back up and running now.”

UPDATE ONE: The official WhatsApp Twitter channels are yet to comment on the thousands of reported issues with the popular chat app today.

Outage monitor Down Detector has received a huge amount of WhatsApp down reports, while #whatsappdown is trending in the UK.

Express.co.uk has contacted WhatsApp for the latest server status and asked if they have an estimated time for when the issues will be resolved.

ORIGINAL:  is down and not working right now for hundreds of users who have reported issues connecting to the popular chat app.

Independent website Down Detector has received a surge of reports of WhatsApp down this evening, with the majority of those affected hit by connection problems.

The WhatsApp issues began after 6pm GMT, with the Down Detector outage map showing users in the UK, Europe and America affected by today’s issues.

Down Detector is an outage monitor that detects issues with popular services across the globe by tracking social mentions around specific topics.

Out of those affected, some 62 per cent are experiencing connection issues, 24 per cent are having trouble receiving messages and 13 per cent have been hit by login problems.

WhatsApp users have flocked to social networking Twitter to report issues with the popular chat app today.

One user tweeted: “WhatsApp is down!”

While another posted: “Is #WhatsApp down ??”

And one added:  “Sigh #whatsappdown”.

Express.co.uk has contacted WhatsApp for comment, and asked if they have an estimated time for when the issues affecting users will be resolved.

This is the second major outage that the Facebook-owned chat app has suffered in November.

At the start of the month WhatsApp went down for thousands of people across the globe.

The outage affected WhatsApp users in the UK, Europe, US and Asia.

Down Detector said that 51 per cent of customers affected by the WhatsApp outage were having issues connecting to it.

A further 29 per cent reported issues receiving messages and 19 per cent were struggling to login.

During the outage a WhatsApp spokesperson confirmed the issues in a statement to Express.co.uk, saying: “Earlier today, WhatsApp users globally had trouble accessing the app for about an hour. 

“This issue has been fixed and we apologize for the inconvenience.” 

WhatsApp users during the first outage in November took to rival social networking site Twitter to report issues with the service.

One user tweeted: “I’m such a cliche. Checking twitter to see if #whatsapp is down. It is.”

Another wrote: “Whatsapp is down, whatsapp is down. This is not a drill. How can I demand constant attention from my friends now?!”

And one posted: “When Whatsapp isn’t working and you have to text someone and not know if they’ve looked at the message or not.”