How to Tell If Facebook Is Down

Is Facebook down right now, or is it just your computer?

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on October 4, 2021
Reviewed by
Lisa Mildon
Lisa Mildon
Reviewed by Lisa Mildon
  • Southern New Hampshire University
Lisa Mildon is a Lifewire writer and an IT professional with 30 years of experience. Her writing has appeared in Geekisphere and other publications.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

If you can't connect to Facebook, the entire social network could be down, or it could just be a problem with your computer, your Facebook app, or your particular Facebook account. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out if Facebook is down for everyone or just you, but there are usually signs that it's one or the other.

Several people in a cafe, looking puzzled at their devices with a Facebook icon floating above
Lifewire / Chloe Giroux 

Instructions in this article apply broadly to all devices capable of connecting to Facebook.

How to Tell If Facebook Is Down

If you think Facebook is down for everyone, try these steps:

  1. Check the Meta Status and Outages page.

    This page is hosted by Meta, so depending on the problem they're having, the information here might not be up-to-date.

    meta graph api status page

  2. Search Twitter for #facebookdown. Pay attention to the tweet timestamps to determine if other people are also experiencing issues with Facebook.

    Twitter search for facebookdown

    While you're on Twitter, you may as well check Facebook's Twitter page for any updates on whether Facebook is down.

    If you can't open Twitter either, and other popular sites like YouTube are also down, then the problem is likely on your end or with your ISP.

  3. Use another third-party "status checker" website like Down For Everyone Or Just Me, Downdetector, Is It Down Right Now?, or Outage.Report.

    Facebook Downdetector status

If no one else is reporting issues with Facebook, then the problem likely lies on your end.

What to Do When You Can't Connect to Facebook

There are several things you can try if Facebook seems to be working fine for everyone else but you:

  1. Make sure you're really visiting Facebook.com. If you're using the Facebook app, make sure it's the official app:

  2. If you're unable to access Facebook from your web browser, try using the Facebook app. If you're having trouble with the app, try using the browser on your smartphone or tablet instead.

  3. Close all of your browser windows, wait 30 seconds, open one window, and then try accessing Facebook again. Do the same to your Facebook app if you're on a tablet or smartphone, but make sure you're actually closing down the app; learn how to close Android apps and how to quit apps on iPhone.

    If you think that your browser or app might not be closing, or it gets stuck and won't close, restart your device and try again.

  4. Clear your browser's cache.

  5. Clear your browser's cookies.

  6. Scan your computer for malware.

  7. Restart your computer.

  8. While not particularly common, there could be an issue with your DNS server. If you want to try switching DNS servers, there are plenty of free and public options.

  9. Unblock Facebook with a web proxy or VPN.

If nothing has worked yet, you're probably dealing with an internet problem. For example, you could have too many devices using up your network bandwidth. Contact your ISP to request further help.

Facebook Error Messages

Aside from the standard HTTP status code errors like 500 Internal Server Error, 403 Forbidden, and 404 Not Found, Facebook sometimes displays error messages that explain why you can't connect. For example:

  • Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.
  • Account Temporarily Unavailable. Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We expect this to be resolved shortly.
  • Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours.

If Facebook is down with a message about some sort of maintenance, then waiting it out is all you can do. Sometimes this maintenance impacts every Facebook user, but sometimes it's just a small portion.

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