Instagram sputters back to life just as abruptly as it went down

Instagram sputters back to life just as abruptly as it went down

Instagram just had a rollercoaster ride. The Meta-owned social media platform is now back online and functioning normally. However, some of its apps seemed to be unable to ping servers, causing them to behave erratically.

For the past few hours, Instagram's Android app had been crashing. Several frustrated users took to Twitter to complain. According to Downdetector, Instagram started having issues at around 12:44 PM EDT today.

A Meta representative confirmed to software engineer Jane Wong that the company is aware of the outage and it's working to restore service "as quickly as possible". Although Android users were predominantly affected, Instagram’s iOS app too was believed to working slowly. This suggests Instagram was facing an issue with its servers.

Complaints on social media indicated many users were unable to use the app as it crashed immediately after opening. Those who managed to keep the app open noted it had limited functionality. Users were unable to access Reels or DMs.

At the time of writing, Instagram seems to be functioning normally. The social media platform’s official Twitter handle posted a Tweet confirming the same. It is not immediately clear what caused Instagram’s Android app to crash or the iOS app to act sluggish. Recently, even Twitter users faced a similar issue.