Why is Instagram not working? Messages not sending issues explained

HUNDREDS of Instagram users have been left unable to login to the social network today.

Here is what we know about the outage.

Getty – Contributor Instagram has gone down across the world[/caption]

How to check if Instagram is working? 

First you can visit the Instagram Help page. Here you’ll find various options available in the panel on the left of the page. Then select known Issues. Any problems that Instagram may be encountering should be displayed here. Also, it is always good to check if you are running the latest version of the app. Android users should visit the Google Play Store and tap on the three lines in the upper left corner. In the menu select My Apps & Games>Updates  and then see if there are newer versions available. If Instagram is there be sure to tap the Update button to the right of its name. iPhone users will need to open the App Store, tap on the Updates tab at the bottom of the page. Failing all this, you can go to an independent status checking site such Is It Down or Just Me, Is It Down Right Now and Down Detector.

When else has Instagram gone down?

The last major outage was on August 2. On this date it was reported to be down for thousands of users across the United States, with outages concentrated in New York. This was followed by Los Angeles and Washington DC. According to DownDetector, reports of outages began escalating about 4.10 pm Eastern Standard Time. The United Kingdom had about 3,000 reports during roughly the same period, with outages mostly in London.

What is a 5xx error?

A 5xx error means any kind of server error where the server is aware it has a problem. There are eleven types of error response codes beginning with 5. They run from 500 (Internal Server Error) to 511 (Network Authentication Required), skipping out 509. Only server administrators can fix them, so if your Instagram stops working then the best course of action is to wait.

Instagram is down, citing a server errorInstagram