WhatsApp users across Pakistan and several other countries faced significant disruptions on April 12, with the messaging platform experiencing a spike in connectivity issues, primarily affecting users’ ability to send messages.
According to Downdetector, an outage tracking service, the surge in user-reported problems began around 6:45 pm, with 409 complaints registered by 8 pm. Of these, 81 percent of reports were related to issues with sending messages, while 16 percent were linked to app functionality, and 3 percent involved problems with the website.
The disruption was particularly intense in major urban centers, including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, and Okara. Reports also indicated service interruptions in parts of southern Punjab and central Sindh.
Globally, WhatsApp experienced a similar outage, with over 1,000 reports from users in various countries, 91 percent of which cited issues with sending messages. The issue persisted despite users attempting to log out and log back into the app.
Social media platforms were flooded with user complaints, with many expressing frustration over the inability to send texts, images, or videos. One user on X, formerly Twitter, commented, “Messages aren’t going through, and media files aren’t uploading either.”
Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, has not yet issued a statement regarding the cause or duration of the outage.
