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Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are back online after an hour crash that frustrated users worldwide

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Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are DOWN: Social media apps crash for frustrated users across the world

  • Facebook owned Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger are down
  • The services stopped working at about 17:30 GMT around the world
  • The outages were first reported by the website Downdetector 

By Ryan Morrison For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are all down across the world after a crash that has left social media users frustrated and unable to connect.

The social tools, all owned by Facebook, including the platform’s own Messenger service, were first reported as not being available from 5:30 GMT on Friday. 

Users visiting Instagram online get a simple error message saying ‘5xx Server Error’, with no other information provided.

Some Facebook users have reported being able to sign in to the app, although 63% of reports on downdetector.com suggest there is a ‘total blackout’. 

The social tools, all owned by Facebook, including the platform's own Messenger service, were first reported as not being available from 5:30 GMT on Friday

The social tools, all owned by Facebook, including the platform’s own Messenger service, were first reported as not being available from 5:30 GMT on Friday

Some Facebook users have reported being able to sign in to the app, although 63% of reports on downdetector.com suggest there is a 'total blackout'

Some Facebook users have reported being able to sign in to the app, although 63% of reports on downdetector.com suggest there is a ‘total blackout’

There was a sudden spike of reports on downdetector for the Facebook owned services, with the outage affecting the entire Facebook social product line. 

Users have taken to social media to express their frustration at not being able to connect to friends, family or work colleagues.

One user shared a picture of the word ‘connecting….’ and said ‘wifi on and off, phone on and down, switch to data, instagram still down, what’s app still down.’

Users have taken to social media to express their frustration at not being able to connect to friends, family or work colleagues

Users have taken to social media to express their frustration at not being able to connect to friends, family or work colleagues

Another talked about using on form of social media to check on another, tweeting that they came to Twitter ‘to see if WhatsApp and Instagram is down.’ 

While Facebook is yet to comment on the outage, of those who reported issues to DownDetector with Instagram, 77 per cent said they were having problems with their news feed, 11 per cent with the website, and 10 per cent with log-in.

The last major outage of a Facebook platform, in January, saw Instagram’s desktop site and app go down for roughly two hours across the globe.

Most of the social media comments revolve around users turning to Twitter to find out what is happening with Instagram or WhatsApp

Most of the social media comments revolve around users turning to Twitter to find out what is happening with Instagram or WhatsApp

The Instagram website is showing a 5xx Server Error message

The Instagram website is showing a 5xx Server Error message

Most of the social media comments revolve around users turning to Twitter to find out what is happening with Instagram or WhatsApp. 

Including someone who shared a picture of people being chased, adding the words ‘me running to twitter to check what happened to WhatsApp again’.

Last year Facebook moved to unify the back end systems of Facebook Messenger and Instagram, effectively merging the two chat platforms. 

This was the first phase in a new unified messaging service for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

HOW DO YOU CHECK HOW MUCH TIME YOU SPEND ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM?

Facebook and Instagram users can now monitor how much time they spend within the app, thanks to new tools designed to improve your digital health.

The new feature is found in the settings menu of each app.

For Facebook users on iOS, tap on the three line symbol in the bottom-right corner of the app to launch the settings menu.

Android users need to tap the same symbol, but will find it at the top-right.

Scroll down the settings menu and tap on the ‘Your Time on Facebook’ option.

For Instagram, users will need to load the settings page, and then scroll down to the option marked ‘Your Activity’.

Both apps include a breakdown of the exact number of minutes you’ve spent on Facebook and Instagram using a particular device.

This data is presented in the style of a bar chat, with users able to tap any bar to see the total time spent for that particular day.

Scrolling further down the page, Facebook and Instagram include the option to set a daily reminder that sends an alert after you’ve reached the amount of time you want to spend on the app for that day.

You can change or cancel the reminder at any time by heading back to the same settings menu.

In the same settings menu on Instagram and Facebook, you can tap on ‘Notification Settings’ to access an updated ‘Mute Push Notifications’ tool.

This lets you mute all notifications from the social network app for a predetermined period of time.

source: dailymail.co.uk