Yep, it seems as though Slack is down, or at least experiencing some issues right now. Users across the globe appear to be suffering from minor and major issues as the messaging app struggles to function normally. At the time of writing, this journalist has been signed out of Slack and, on closing and reopening, has been asked by the service to sign back in. So what’s going on?

Is Slack down? Updates – August 17th

At around 9am PT, 12pm EDT, (or 5pm BST for Brits), Slack appeared to be down with a clear spike in issues. This can be seen across reputable outage detector sites, like downdetector, where Slack has seen a huge spike in problems on Thursday, July 17th. Although there’s clearly an issue, at the time of writing the only thing we can go by is Slack’s own ‘Slack system Status’ page. That page keeps an eye on the message apps service and reports an issue with ‘login/SSO’, but no outright outages. That doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing them though, as users can be affected in a variety of ways.

The chances are that you and many others will experience a choppy app experience until …whatever is causing the issue is resolved. Again though, while we can only speculate on what’s causing the issue, we won’t know for certain until Slack releases a statement.

Why is Slack not working?

If you can verify that your Internet connection is solid (try searching Google for a basic check), Slack isn’t working. Why Slack’s not working could be for many reasons. This could include server issues or outages, perhaps an unexpected surge on the company’s servers, or, in extreme and rare situations, possibly a security issue. Many apps can have similar issues, for example when Twitter goes down – although reasons can be unique to the service.

How do I know if Slack is down?

The best way to tell is to check Slack’s own status page or a reputable ‘down detector’ site. You can also check the latest news from sites such as PC Guide, or take to Twitter to see if anyone else is experiencing the problem. If you see others struggling to connect, or news reports on Slack being down, then you likely aren’t alone and it’s now just you you.

Can I reconnect to Slack?

You may need to wait for Slack to resolve the issue before you can actually log back in to the app or web app. Once the issue has been resolved, you should be able to reconnect without issue. Although you may need to log back in if, as a result of the outage, logins and connection to the service have been reset.

About the Author

Kevin Pocock

Kevin has a broad interest and enthusiasm for consumer electronics, PCs, and all things consumer tech. And more than 17 years experience in tech journalism.