Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok or Facebook not loading? How to tell what is wrong

When a social app misbehaves, millions of people reach for their phone to check if it is just them. The answer depends on which part is failing, because an app is made of several services that can break separately.

Which part is broken?

  • The app will not open or crashes: usually the app or phone, not a server outage. Update the app and restart the phone.
  • Feed will not refresh, or shows old posts: the app cannot reach its servers. This can be your connection or a service fault.
  • Photos and videos will not load but text does: the media delivery network is struggling. This is typical of partial outages.
  • Messages will not send or arrive: messaging servers are separate from the feed. Messaging can fail while everything else works.
  • You are logged out or asked to verify: a sign-in problem, or a security check triggered by a new device or VPN.
  • “Try again later” after many actions: you hit a limit on likes, follows or messages. Wait and slow down.

Checks on your phone first

  1. Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data. If it works on one, the other connection has a problem (see works on mobile data but not Wi-Fi).
  2. Turn on airplane mode for ten seconds, then off, to reset the connection.
  3. Close the app completely and reopen it.
  4. Update the app and check that your phone has free storage. A nearly full phone makes apps misbehave.
  5. Check the date and time are set automatically. A wrong clock breaks secure connections.
  6. Clear the app’s cache in the phone’s app settings. This does not delete your account.

Check the service

Use the checker for the service’s website, and the app servers card on each service page to see its login and API servers. If the website is up but the app servers fail, the problem is in the app’s back end, which explains why the app fails while the website works.

A worked example

Your friend can post photos but you cannot, and the app shows an error after you tap Share. The checker shows the service up. You switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data and the post goes through. The Wi-Fi path to the upload servers was the issue, so a router restart is the next step. If both networks failed and many others reported the same, it would be a service outage and waiting would be the right answer.

Why social outages feel so big

These services run on huge networks that depend on shared systems, so one configuration mistake can take down several apps owned by the same company at once. That is why WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook sometimes fail together. See why big websites go down.

What not to do

  • Do not delete the app unless it is clearly a local fault. You could lose unsent drafts and offline data.
  • Do not enter your password on a page you reached from a message claiming the service is “down”. Scammers use outages as bait.
  • Do not keep refreshing. That adds load and can trigger limits.
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Last updated 2 November 2026. Written by the siteupdown.com team. Spotted a mistake?

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