WhatsApp messaging service slowly returns after suffering global outage

Popular messaging app WhatsApp is gradually coming back online, with some users in India, Asia and the United Kingdom saying they were able to send and receive some messages and videos again.

Users across the world had reported issues with the platform earlier on Tuesday.

“We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson for WhatsApp parent company Meta Platforms said when news of the outage first broke.

Website status monitor Downdetector said more than 11,000 users across India had reported an outage, while the numbers for United Kingdom were at 68,000 and 19,000 for Singapore as of about 5:50pm AEST.

Reports have since come in from Australia.

“This is a nuisance. I really hope it comes back soon,” one Downdetector user posted.

Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform.

The number of users impacted is yet to be confirmed.

Meta, previously known as Facebook, bought WhatsApp in 2014.