THOUSANDS of Instagram users have reported issues with accessing the platform.
Reports of an outage flooded Down Detector at around 9pm on Thursday.
More than 11,000 users have reported issues to the down-site.
The outage, impacting both the app and website, appears to be worldwide.
Problems have been reported across Europe and Asia, as well as in New York City, Los Angeles and other major US cities.
Frustrated users rushed to rival X, formerly Twitter, to express their frustration.
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One joked: “Twitter always be my one source to check if Instagram is down.”
Another asked: “Is Instagram down? I was having the best reels scroll.”
Instagram’s owner, Meta, has not yet commented on the problems.
How to check if Instagram is working
Instagram’s official Twitter page is a good first port of call.
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The company’s InstagramComms page usually tweets out any information about the latest issues and outages.
Another thing people tend to do is tweet about problems themselves.
So, have a search on Twitter – that way you’ll at least know whether it’s something only you are experiencing or something much bigger.
Also, it is always good to check if you are running the latest version of the app.
Android users should visit the Google Play Store and tap on the three lines in the upper left corner.
In the menu select My Apps & Games, followed by Updates and then see if there are newer versions available.
If Instagram is there be sure to tap the Update button to the right of its name.
iPhone users will need to open the App Store, tap on the Updates tab at the bottom of the page.
Failing all this, you can go to an independent status checking site such Is It Down or Just Me, Is It Down Right Now and Down Detector.
What to do if Instagram is down
The best thing to do is relaunch the app.
Force quit Instagram by sliding up and then dismissing the app so it closes entirely.
See if it then reloads.
It could also be a problem with your connection, so see if something else like a web page loads for you – if that doesn’t load, it’s an issue with your internet.
And if you’re still having problems after all this, it’s time to work out whether you’re alone in all this.
Do a search on Twitter to see if others are complaining about the same thing.
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Should you see a load of tweets about Instagram being down, then you have your answer.
In which case, the only thing you can do is wait for it to be fixed and check the options above for updates.