Outage hits Google Talk, Hangouts
After Google chat services go down for many users for about three hours, some find they actually have to talk to people in person.
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Google's chat services experienced some hiccups early Monday. Google Talk and Google+ Hangouts were down for some users for roughly three hours, according to the company's app status dashboard.
"The problem with Google+ Hangouts should be resolved," reads a Google update posted at 12:28 p.m. PT. "We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better."
Google posted the same status update at that time for Talk, but did not provide any more details on what caused the service disruption.
CNET first noticed the outage around 9:15 a.m. PT. Though Talk and Hangouts continued working for some users, the lengthy service disruption appeared to be fairly widespread. Several people noted the issue on Twitter:
Excellent, Google Voice/Talk/Chat/Hangouts/... are down No communications for you!
— Ray (@RtheG) March 17, 2014It's not just you, Google Talk and Hangouts both experiencing a "service disruption" right now http://t.co/M6jkyHmGhS
— John Marc Imbrescia (@thejohnmarc) March 17, 2014Shortly after 11 a.m. PT, Google sent a tweet about the disruption of its messaging services.
Messaging is having a case of the Mondays. We're working on resolving the issue--see Apps Status Dashboard for updates http://t.co/B5Z6rxPvHb
— A Googler (@google) March 17, 2014On its app status dashboard, Google said it's looking into the problems and will have an update for Talk and Hangouts by 11:15 a.m. PT.
Update: Google noted soon after 11:15 a.m. that Talk and Hangouts have been restored for some users. It added: "We expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change."
The dashboard also showed a service disruption for Google Sheets. At 10:30 a.m., the company said that service had been restored for some users, and Google expected to have the problem resolved for all users "in the near future." Google gave Sheets the all clear a little over an hour later.
Some users were also reporting problems with Google Drive this morning, though Google did not indicate any issues with the service on its status dashboard. Web tracking site Down Right Now also noted that Gmail may be experiencing a "likely service disruption."
Updates, 11:03 a.m. PT: Added information about an update on the status of Talk and Hangouts, and details about a disruption for Sheets. 11:23 a.m. PT: Added tweet from Google about its messaging-services outage, as well as details about the latest status of Talk and Hangouts. And 1:06 p.m. PT: Added that issues with Talk, Hangouts, and Sheets have been resolved.