Facebook, Instagram, and Threads return after service hiccup

(Update 4:30 pm EST) Facebook, Instagram, and Threads return for users.

What you need to know

• Meta's major apps, like Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, are experiencing widespread crashes.
• Hundreds of thousands of users are reporting issues on platforms like X and Downdetector, with most of them encountering expired sessions and warnings after entering passwords.
• Instagram and Threads users have reported being unable to refresh feeds and experiencing unexpected exits when trying to upload photos or videos.

Meta's popular apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, appear to be crashing. On Tuesday morning, hundreds of thousands of people reported issues and vented on platforms like X and Downdetector.

When users, including Android Central editors and writers, checked out the Facebook app on their phones, it greeted them with a screen stating that the session had expired, asking them to log in again. But after punching in the password, Facebook hit users with a warning that something was off.

This author somehow got the password in once, but when Facebook wanted an authentication code, the app just didn't recognize it. That's not all—Facebook Messenger is also on downtime, kicking users back to a login screen where their credentials aren't accepted either.

Switching gears to Instagram and Threads, there's a glitch where some users can't refresh their feeds. Trying to upload photos or videos unexpectedly showed some users, including this author, the exit door.

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In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Meta's Andy Stone confirmed the issue.

Android Central has reached out to Meta for further clarification and will update this article when we hear back.

Over at X, #facebookdown was trending late Tuesday morning as users discovered they were locked out of Meta's social apps. It looks like the outage is causing a stir in various corners of the globe.

Fortunately for WhatsApp users, it appears the outage has not affected the messaging app.

DownDetector lit up with reports this morning, shooting through the roof for all three platforms. In the U.S. alone, a whopping half a million users reported problems with Facebook, and Instagram wasn't far behind, with over 92,000 users flagging issues in the last 24 hours.

On Monday, CNN reported that damage to submarine cables in the Red Sea was causing disruption in the telecommunications networks. As a result, providers are scrambling to reroute up to a quarter of the traffic between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

However, it is unclear if this is directly tied to the massive Meta outages happening everywhere.

Update

Meta's Andy Stone has returned to X to inform users that the problems affecting Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have been solved.

However, some users have replied noting that problems are still occurring, specifically with Facebook's two-factor authentication. The issue doesn't appear to be as widespread, but it may take a little longer before these lingering problems are ironed out.