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The newly popular messaging service Signal has had problems for the last day or so. While it is starting to work again for some users and on some cross-platform combinations, the problem reports continue Signal status dashboard It indicates ongoing technical difficulties. The company’s affidavits indicate that the service outages are linked to the growing pain from its rapid growth and the insane influx of new users. However, we’re told she’s working on a fix, and Signal appreciates the customer’s patience in the meantime.
We’ve added new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every day this week without interruption, but today we exceeded even our most optimistic expectations. Millions and millions of new users send messages of privacy concerns. We appreciate your patience.
– Signal (signalapp) January 15, 2021
Signal messaging service is popular Explosion In the past few weeks, due in large part to the concerns surrounding my Recent changes to WhatsApp’s terms of service. Problem reports first began on Friday at around 10 am ET. Reports have slowed since then, with some claiming that the service works when sending messages to others on certain platforms, although other groups continue to struggle with difficulties, and Signal’s official status dashboard indicates persistent problems.
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Some users can log in and receive some messages. Those sent during a power outage arrive as a „poorly coded message“. Others say they can send messages without receiving them, or that conversations between certain platforms groups (like iOS to iOS) work, while others don’t. Most of them report a persistent error message banner that states: “Signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.”
One of the error messages Signal users might see during an outage. Thanks: Nicholas Blasgen.
For the unfamiliar, Signal is a privacy-centric messaging service available on Android, iOS, and desktop (including Windows, macOS, and Linux) that provides secure and encrypted communication. It’s open source and run by a nonprofit, and it’s a popular alternative to services like WhatsApp and Hangouts.
Slack is dropping and I am free
The signal goes down and I am anxious
TonyRomm January 15, 2021
It’s not surprising that Signal has had such a problem, given its recent pace of growth. Based on Play Store Metrics, its user base has increased at least 5 times in the last week alone, which ignores other platforms. Real numbers can be closer to 10 or 20X. With an explosion in the number of new users like this, growing pains like this are basically inevitable, and a downturn is expected today.
I think that signalapp DDoS’ed Server Applications. Servers overflowed due to an influx of users and started returning HTTP 508 which was not handled by the app and millions of apps started trying to connect at once. Judging from recent commitments in https://t.co/KD6kS2o9wt
– Daniel Novak ((Novakaniel)) January 16, 2021
Signal told us at around 11 a.m. ET on Friday, 1/15 that he was working on the issue, and that it will be back to normal soon, although it looks like the solution might take a little longer than originally planned. Given how quickly the service has grown in popularity lately, we can’t blame them for being surprising victims of their success. Learning to measure is difficult.
