Zoom down: Popular videoconferencing app suffers global outage

Zoom, the videoconferencing app that became a mainstay of post-COVID-19 work culture, has been reported down for many across the world.

Service outage detector DownDetector reported over 11,000 complaints of issues with Zoom as of Monday evening.

The surge in complaints comes as many schools reopen across the US.

The company posted on Twitter saying they had identified the issue and were deploying a fix.

“If you're having trouble connecting to Zoom, we have identified the issue and are working on a fix. Please follow http://status.zoom.us for updates. We're so sorry about the inconvenience,” Zoom tweeted.

“Thanks for hanging in there! We are deploying a fix now. Service should be restored for some users and we’re continuing to complete the fix for any users still impacted. We're sorry about the disruption,” the company added.

At the time of writing, Zoom’s status indicator reported partial outages for Meetings, Video Webinars and the web client and portal, while phone and chat functionality was operational. Since the majority of users use the app for its video-calling functionality, the outage caused many to take to social media in protest.

One user reported their college  switching to a different video-conferencing app while the outage persisted.

By the end of April, Zoom reported having over 300 million daily Zoom meeting participants. The app had found widespread adoption, from governments to actors, as the pandemic and a slew of lockdowns prompted millions to work from home.

Update:

Zoom have since claimed to have fixed the issue,  tweeting, "Everything should be working properly now! We are continuing to monitor the situation. Thank you all for your patience and our sincere apologies for disrupting your day."

In an earlier tweet, the company said Meeting and webinar service had been restored for the majority of users, but that "Some of you may still be unable to sign up for paid accounts, upgrade, or manage your service on our website".