TikTok goes DOWN: Video app crashes for frustrated users again

TikTok has suffered yet another outage today – the third in as many weeks.

According to DownDetector, problems with TikTok started at around 15:00 GMT on Wednesday and affected users across the world.

By 16:00 GMT, reported issues had returned to a normal level, suggesting the outage was quickly fixed – although TikTok is yet to officially comment.

The app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, suffered an hour-long outage that affected UK users on November 1.

It then suffered another global outage on November 4, marking the second crash the app has experienced in a single week.

TikTok has crashed for users across the world this afternoon. It’s the third glitch for the app in as many weeks

This afternoon, more than 4,000 problems have been logged on DownDetector, with 51 per cent of people reporting issues with the app and 44 per cent with the server connection

DownDetector collates reports of outages from multiple sources, including social media and mobile apps.

This afternoon, more than 4,000 problems were logged on DownDetector, with 51 per cent of people reporting issues with the app and 44 per cent with the server connection.

MailOnline has contacted TikTok for comment.

Several frustrated users took to Twitter to discuss the outage. One asked whether TikTok was down or ‘if my wifi [is] just tripping’.

Several frustrated users have taken to Twitter to discuss the outage. One asked whether TikTok was down or ‘if my wifi [is] just tripping’

It comes only a couple of weeks after TikTok suffered an hour-long outage that affected UK users

TikTok is yet to comment on the cause of the issue, which appeared to affect people globally

TikTok’s recent issues come after rival app Instagram suffered a four-hour outage that saw users’ accounts suspended at the end of last month.

Prior to that, WhatsApp, owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s firm Meta, experienced a two-hour outage that left users globally unable to send or receive messages.

Rival social media companies are having trouble keeping up with the popularity of TikTok, an app for creating and sharing short videos.

It was recently revealed that TikTok users spend 197.8 million hours a day scrolling through the app – 10 times what Instagram users spend on its equivalent Reels.

WHAT IS TIK TOK?

TikTok is a Chinese social media app where users can live stream, create short videos and music videos and Gifs with a host of functions.

TikTok’s tagline is ‘Make every second count’.

It was the most downloaded app in the US in 2018 and the world’s fourth most downloaded app in 2018, ahead of Instagram and Snapchat.

TikTok is known in China as Douyin where it was launched in 2016 and then made more widely available around the world in 2017.

Douyin is still the version of the app used in China, available to download separately to TikTok.

The app was merged with popular music video lip-syncing app Musical.ly, also with headquarters in China.

Most children use the app to film themselves lip-syncing to chart hits.

It offers users a raft if colourful modification and editing tools including overlaying music, sound, animated stickers, filters and augmented reality (AR) for creating short videos.

The Beijing based social network has more than 500 million active users and the company is now worth more than $75 billion (£58 billion).

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk