On April 12th, WhatsApp users across Singapore and the globe encountered difficulties sending messages through the popular messaging application. Downdetector Singapore, a service that tracks online outages, reported a peak of 1,964 user reports at 10:50 PM, indicating widespread disruptions. Earlier in the evening, at 7:50 PM, there was an initial spike of 398 reports.

Neighboring countries also experienced similar issues. Downdetector's Indonesia site recorded 1,743 reports by 10:37 PM, while the Malaysian site noted 944 reports by 10:41 PM. The main Downdetector site registered a peak of 3,291 reports at 10:52 PM. Google Trends data showed a surge in searches for "WhatsApp down" in Singapore, spiking at 7:52 PM and again between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM.

Reports also emerged from India, where users reported being unable to send messages or upload statuses. Singaporean blogger Lee Kin Mun, known as mrbrown, humorously commented on Facebook, "I think WhatsApp is down. We will have to send our good night posts tomorrow."

Users on X (formerly Twitter) from India, Indonesia, and Vietnam confirmed the outage, posting screenshots showing exclamation marks beside their undelivered messages. This symbol indicates a failure to deliver messages within the app.

This disruption follows a similar incident in March when Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, experienced global outages for approximately two hours. During that event, users were logged out of their accounts and unable to log back in. Facebook attributed the outage to a command issued during routine maintenance that unintentionally disrupted the platform's backbone network.

Update: It appears the WhatsApp issue has been resolved.

The disruption affected both the mobile application and the web-based platform. In India, approximately 3,000 reports were logged on Downdetector, with over 90% citing problems with sending messages. The remaining reports mentioned server connection issues and general app malfunctions. Members of The Times of India's technology team confirmed experiencing difficulties sending messages on both the WhatsApp application and WhatsApp Web.

Globally, around 2,800 users reported similar issues, with 91% facing message sending problems, 6% reporting app issues, and 3% experiencing problems receiving messages. Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, has not yet released an official statement regarding the cause of the widespread disruption.

The outage led to a flurry of activity on social media platforms, with users reporting connection problems and the inability to send messages. Many turned to Twitter to confirm whether WhatsApp was indeed down, with posts including hashtags such as #WhatsApp and #whatsappdown. Users humorously shared their reactions and experiences during the outage.