This morning, WhatsApp users worldwide reported issues with the chat service. Instead of being able to communicate with friends and colleagues, they were experiencing connection issues today, Friday 3 November.

It now seems to be working again, however, and is stable.

There is no word on what the issue was, but it is said to have started around 7.10am this morning and lasted more than two hours.

Both the mobile and desktop apps were affected, but now work normally.

Website Downdetector, which lists the most popular online services and their current status, stated that there were "problems with WhatsApp" but without explanation. It also claimed that there were problems on 1 November, 30 October and 18 October, but they were all resolved too.

It was a global issue, not just affecting the UK, with some users in India, Saudi Arabia, Japan and other countries also posting that the service was not working in their region. We wonder if it was purposely taken down for a server update or even to push new features? We're awaiting confirmation on either.

WhatsApp is one of the most used chat services in the world.