WhatsApp service goes down in several regions

KARACHI: WhatsApp users across Pakistan experienced a widespread disruption on Saturday evening, with the messaging platform suffering a spike in connectivity issues, primarily impacting the ability to send messages.

According to outage tracking service Downdetector, user-submitted problem reports surged sharply around 6:45pm. Around 409 reports were received by 8pm. An overwhelming 81 per cent of complaints were related to sending messages, while 16 per cent concerned app functionality, and 3.0 per cent involved the website.

A heat map of the disruption showed the most intense concentrations of reports from major urban centres including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Okara. Additional outages were reported in parts of southern Punjab and central Sindh.

Downdetector noted that such spikes typically indicate a significant service incident, though the exact cause has not been officially disclosed.