WhatsApp down: users around the world unable to send or receive messages

Users are still able to open the app, type messages and read existing conversations

Users around the world are reporting problems sending and receiving WhatApp messages. Reuters

WhatsApp users around the world are reporting problems with sending and receiving messages.

According to site Downdetector, there was a sharp rise in reports of issues with the app shortly after 11am GST, with more than 9,000 users in the UAE reporting problems.

The problems do not seem to be limited to one particular region and are affecting users around the world. WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, was trending on Twitter on Tuesday, with thousands of users logging on to see whether they were alone in experiencing the problems.

"Feeling relaxed after confirming from Twitter that I’m not alone #WhatsApp," one user wrote.

"I've now realised how much I rely on WhatsApp," another user said.

Users are able to open the app, type messages and read existing conversations, but new messages are currently undeliverable. The problems also seem to be affecting WhatsApp Web.

Messages in private chats are appearing with one tick, signifying they have not reached the recipient, and messages in groups are not sending at all.

WhatsApp is yet to release a statement on the outage.

Global glitches for WhatsApp users are rare. However, last October, the messenger platform, along with other Meta-owned apps Facebook and Instagram, suffered at six-hour outage, affecting as many as 2.7 billion people around the world.

Naturally, the masses migrated over to Twitter, which seemed ready to welcome the online crowds.

Quick to react to the flood of users, the Twitter account simply tweeted, "hello literally everyone".

The tweet received a lot of attention, with 3.2 million likes.