LOS ANGELES (AP) - WhatsApp is starting to work again after the messaging app that Facebook is buying for $19 billion had some technical trouble.
Associated Press reporters noticed that the app wasn't functioning Saturday starting at about 2 p.m. CST, but by 4:30 p.m., Twitter users around the world began saying WhatsApp is working again.
WhatsApp and Facebook didn't respond to emails seeking comment, but the WhatsApp Status account on Twitter said service had been restored and apologized for the downtime.
Service outages are common for rapidly growing technology companies, and the WhatsApp Status account has tweeted about an outage about once a month going back through May.
WhatsApp, launched in 2009, has 450 million users globally. Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts it will reach 1 billion in a few years.