WhatsApp Back Up after it suffers outage just days after being bought by Facebook for $19bn

The deal for the mobile messaging system was the single biggest purchase in Facebook’s history.

WhatsApp, the rapidly expanding mobile messaging app, suffered an outage for more than three hours on Saturday, frustrating users just days after its acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion.

"WhatsApp service has been restored. We are so sorry for the downtime...," WhatsApp tweeted to its more than 1 million Twitter followers on Saturday around 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT).

Earlier, the service had said it was "experiencing server issues" without providing further details. Facebook referred questions on the outage to WhatsApp representatives, who did not immediately respond.

The instant messaging app reported it was suffering ‘server issues’ on Saturday night but Facebook refused to comment.

The outage was experienced for around three hours, leaving WhatsApp’s 450million monthly users scratching their heads and twiddling their thumbs.

WhatsApp’s Twitter page posted at 8.16pm (GMT): ‘We hope to be back up and recovered shortly.’

Users had complained that the popular app was showing a loading asterisk and a status reading: ‘Connecting’.

By 10.30pm it was back up and running, much to the relief of millions, and presumably the Facebook employees who pushed through its expensive acquisition last week.

Five-year-old WhatsApp currently has about 450 million users globally and has been adding a million users daily.

On Saturday, some of those users took to other forms of social media, including blogs and Twitter to report the outage and vent their frustration.

WhatsApp is the leader among a wave of smartphone-based messaging apps that are now sweeping across North America, Asia and Europe, and is known to appeal to teens and others who avoid mainstream social networks.

During the outage the buzz on Twitter ranged from the conspiratorial - that Facebook had really bought WhatsApp to shut it down and funnel users to Facebook Chat - to the philosophical.