It can be very frustrating: You open your Messages app, send an iMessage, and then see that dreaded red exclamation point or horrible green SMS bubble. At this point, you may be curious whether it’s just your iPhone or whether iMessage is broken for everyone, but how do you find out?
There are several ways to check if iMessage — as well as the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, FaceTime, iCloud Mail, Maps, News, or any other Apple service — is down for everyone. At the very least, you can check if others are experiencing the same problem or if there is a temporary service interruption. The options listed below are not the only ways to look for an Apple service outage, but we believe they are the most helpful.
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Option 1: Check Apple’s System Status Page
If you have issues with any Apple service, it may be best to go straight to the source. Apple has a dedicated System Status webpage to show you if any of its services are down or have encountered problems, including the following systems:
- App Store
- Apple Arcade, Books, Business Manager, Card, Cash, Fitness+, ID, Music, Music for Artists, Music radio, Music Subscriptions, Online Store, Pay & Wallet, School Manager, TV Channels, TV+
- AppleCare on Device
- Device Enrollment Program
- Dictation
- Documents in the Cloud
- FaceTime
- Find My
- Fleetsmith
- Game Center
- Global Service Exchange
- Health sharing with provider
- HomeKit, HomeKit Secure Video
- iCloud Account & Sign In, Backup, Bookmarks & Tabs, Calendar, Contacts, Drive, Keychain, Mail, Notes, Private Relay, Reminders, Storage Upgrades, Web Apps (iCloud.com)
- iMessage
- iOS Device Activation
- iTunes Match, iTunes Store
- iWork for iCloud
- Mac App Store
- macOS Software Update
- Mail Drop
- Maps Display, Maps Routing & Navigation, Maps Search, Maps Traffic
- News
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Radio
- Schooltime
- Schoolwork
- Screen Time
- Sign in with Apple
- Siri
- Spotlight suggestions
- Stocks
- Volume Purchase Program
- Walkie-Talkie
- Weather
However, suppose the service just had an outage. In that case, Apple might not update the status right away until the company has had time to do an initial investigation to see if the issue is widespread or isolated. See the other options below if you suspect that could be the case. You can also report to Apple any issues you’re experiencing to ensure they are aware of a potential system problem.
If you’re a developer, Apple also has a System Status webpage for developer services, which includes the following items.
- Account
- AMP – Developer Content Delivery
- APNS, Sandbox
- App Attest
- App Store – In-App Purchases, Receipt Verification, Sandbox, Server APIs, Server Notifications, TestFlight
- App Store Automatic App Updates, Connect, Connect Analytics, Connect API, Connect App Processing
- Apple Developer Forums, Maps API, Music API, News API, Podcasts Connect
- Apple Pay – Developer
- Back to My Mac
- Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
- CloudKit Console, CloudKit Database
- Code-level Support
- Contact Us
- Developer Documentation, ID Notary Service
- Feedback Assistant
- MapKit JS Dashboard
- MFi Portal
- News Publisher
- Program Enrollment and Renewals
- Software Downloads
- Videos
- Xcode Automatic Configuration, Xcode Cloud
Option 2: Downdetector
Downdetector is one of the leading services in analyzing the status of websites and services across the internet. It collects information from Twitter and uses that data to report down statuses for websites and apps. Ookla, creator of the popular Speedtest web app, started the service in 2012.
You can check Downdetector by visiting its website or iOS app. Here are most of the Apple services Downdector supports:
- App Store
- Apple Card, Fitness +, Music, Online Store, Support, TV Channels, TV+
- FaceTime
- Find My
- HomeKit
- iCloud
- iMessage
- iTunes, iTunes Connect, iTunes Match
- iWork
- macOS Software Updates
- Maps
- News
- Siri
Option 3: Services Down
Services Down is a service similar to Downdetector but focuses on services. The website is not clear where it derives its information from, but based on our experience, it appears to be reasonably accurate.
The service also indicates how many reports there have been in the past 24 hours and how many social media accounts have reported this service being down. Services Down supports:
Option 4: Search Twitter
Another easy way to find out if others are having issues with Apple’s services is by doing a Twitter search, and you do not have to have a Twitter account to do it.
First, you can look at replies to @AppleSupport. Scroll down on that page to see if somebody else has the same problem with the Apple service as you.
Try a site-wide search if you don’t see anything regarding the service being down from @AppleSupport. The most efficient way to do that is to search for the hashtag (#), the service, and the word “Down.” For example, #AppStoreDown. However, you can perform a regularly formatted search such as “App Store down” for similar results.
As mentioned above, some other websites and services could help you discover whether an Apple service is down or at reduced capacity. Still, you’ll have the best luck with Apple System Status, Downdetector, Services Down, and Twitter.
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