Many iMessage Users Reported The Apple Service Was Not Working

If you were having trouble sending Messages on your iPhone, you’re not the only one who was wondering if iMessage was down on Tuesday. Users began experiencing issues with the Messages app on Oct. 25, and as of 11:59 a.m. ET, the website DownDetector had received over 11,500 reports of issues (compared to a baseline of almost zero). It’s unclear what the reason behind the problem was, but the reported issues weren’t looking good for users trying to send Messages. Elite Daily reached out to Apple for comment on the possible issues with Messages, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

Apple users began flocking to DownDetector around 11:44 a.m. ET to report issues with Messages on Tuesday. At the time, 2,200 users had reported having trouble with the app, which was a big uptick from the baseline of two issue reports the app usually has. According to the website, 99% of the reported problems related to having trouble sending messages. FWIW, I sent a message to a group chat right before I saw the reports, and my text had no trouble getting through — but there were many reported issues to be found from users on Twitter.

It appears Apple jumped on the case quickly, because by 12:47 p.m. ET the number of reported issues had fallen to 351 on DownDetector. As of 1:10 p.m. ET, Apple’s System Status page reported the iMessage issue was resolved and that “some users were affected.”

As soon as users noticed something was off, they took to Twitter to see if the issue called for more than turning their phones on and off again. Luckily, Apple users social media platform were able to provide some clarity during the confusing outage — basically confirming with one another that Message issues were indeed an issue for some people.

One user, @shadadadoll, was shared a possible solution to the problem. “For those who iMessage isn’t working. Just go in the Settings and turn iMessage off and turn it back on,” the Apple user tweeted. “It fixes the issue.”

Twitter user @legitnatpru then replied, “Bless u !!!!”, so if you’re still having trouble sending your texts through, this suggested solution might be an effective fix.

The outage came on the heels of a WhatsApp outage in the early hours of Oct. 25. It’s unclear whether the issues were related, but iMessage loyalists were quick to crank out the memes about how the Apple messaging app is superior. But those jokes aged like sour milk in just a few hours, as their app of choice would soon experience the same fate as WhatsApp.

The iMessage outage may have also brought some trouble to FaceTime as well, because according to the System Status page, FaceTime was also marked as having a “Resolved Issue.” As of 1:15 p.m. ET on Oct. 25, the page purports there are still outages within iCloud Drive, iCloud Backup, and Photos. Given the iOS 16.1 update dropped on Oct. 24, and that there are some new features in iCloud and Photos, that may be the culprit for any glitches on your iPhone. To hopefully avoid any issues, make sure your phone is updated to iOS 16.1.

Now that the issue has been resolved, you’re good to start resending those iMessages that didn’t go through.