[ad_1]
This story was originally published and last update .
The newly popular Signal messaging service has been struggling for about a day. Although it has started working again for some users and in certain platform combinations, problem reports continue and the signal status dashboard indicates ongoing technical difficulties. Acknowledgments from the company indicate that the outage is linked to growing pain due to its rapid growth and the insane influx of new users. However, we’re told he’s working on a fix, and Signal appreciates the customer’s patience in the meantime.
We added new servers and additional capacity at an all time high every day this week without disruption, but today we have exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts. Millions upon millions of new users send a message that privacy is important. We appreciate your patience.
– Signal (@signalapp) January 15, 2021
The popularity of the Signal messaging service has exploded in recent weeks, largely due to concerns surrounding recent changes to WhatsApp’s terms of service. Reports of the issues began around 10 a.m. ET on Friday. The pace of reporting has since slackened, with some claiming that the service works when sending messages to others on certain platforms, although other combinations continue to suffer from difficulties, and the dashboard of Signal’s official status indicates that the problems persist.
Report the volume to Downdetector.
Some users can log in and receive messages, with those sent during the outage arriving as “poorly encrypted message”. Others say they can send but not receive messages, or that conversations between certain platform combinations (like iOS to iOS) work, while others don’t. Most report a current error message banner that reads: “Signal is having technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.”
One of the error messages Signal users may see during the outage. Thanks: Nicholas Blasgen.
For strangers, Signal is a privacy-focused messaging service available on Android, iOS, and desktop (including Windows, macOS, and Linux) that offers secure and encrypted communication. It’s open source and run by a non-profit organization, and a popular alternative to services like WhatsApp and Hangouts.
the game decreases and I am free
the signal goes down and I’m anxious
– Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) January 15, 2021
It’s no surprise that Signal runs into a problem like this, given the pace of growth seen recently. Based on Play Store metrics, its user base grew at least 5x last week alone, and that ignores other platforms. The real numbers could be closer to 10 or 20X. With an explosion of new users like this, growing pains like these are inherently inevitable, and today’s downtime is to be expected.
I think the @signalapp the applications have DDoS on the server. The servers exceeded their capacity due to the influx of users and started returning HTTP 508 which was not handled by the app and millions of apps started retrying the connection at once. Judging by recent commits at https://t.co/KD6kS2o9wt
– Daniel Novak (@NovakDaniel) January 16, 2021
Signal told us around 11:00 am ET on Friday January 15 that it was fixing the issue and would return to normal shortly, although it looks like a resolution may take a little longer than originally expected. Considering how quickly the service has grown recently, we cannot fault them for having suddenly fallen victim to their own success. Learning to evolve is difficult.
[ad_2]
Source link