Paypal And Venmo Outage Hit Users Friday Morning - What We Know

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• PayPal and Venmo knowledgeable an outage Friday morning.
• Affected accounts couldn't nonstop aliases person payments.
• PayPal has acknowledged nan problem and said a hole is successful nan works.

Did you person problem pinch PayPal aliases Venmo this morning? You weren't alone. The problem has been resolved, but millions of group were scrambling to find a fix. 

Also: PayPal's AI-powered scam alert strategy mightiness intercept your transactions now - here's why

Shortly earlier 9 a.m. ET, users began reporting that some platforms were down. They said nan platforms would load, but they couldn't nonstop aliases person payments. Some users said they couldn't log successful astatine all. PayPal owns Venmo, which would explicate why some platforms were affected together.

Spike successful outage reports

A graph connected Downdetector, a celebrated outage-tracking site, showed a spike successful reports of a Venmo outage astatine 9 a.m. A graph for PayPal showed nan same. (Downdetector is besides owned by ZDNET's genitor company, Ziff Davis.) PayPal's service position page showed a disruption successful online checkout and unit checkout services. A tab connected nan aforesaid page showed Venmo's position arsenic "Operational," but that wasn't nan case. 

Also: Think your Venmo is private? You should double-check this setting

PayPal's position page stated, "We are still watching effect to Retail Checkout, Online Checkout and Braintree successful our accumulation Environment. Our Technical teams are actively investigating and moving to mitigate nan effect arsenic quickly arsenic possible. We will proceed to supply updates arsenic nan business progresses."

By noon ET, nan platforms were moving again. A PayPal spokesperson responded to a query pinch a elemental mentation of, "PayPal and Venmo knowledgeable a impermanent interruption this greeting that has since been resolved."

Both Venmo and PayPal are very celebrated costs platforms. PayPal has 434 cardinal progressive users, and Venmo has more than 80 million.

Loading fine, but not working

When I tested nan platforms for myself during nan outage, some loaded fine, but neither worked. I utilized nan Venmo app, which conscionable kept spinning erstwhile I tried to nonstop a costs to my woman (it sat spinning for astatine slightest 45 minutes). I tried PayPal done my laptop browser, and it sent $1 good connected my end, but my woman ne'er received an email alerting her to a payment, and her equilibrium didn't bespeak nan costs (mine did).

When I tested again astatine noon, my Venmo costs went done without a hitch.

Also: The 10 apps I can't unrecorded aliases activity without - connected Windows, Mac, and mobile

Money was accessible nan full time. I had a mini Venmo equilibrium that I was capable to transportation to my slope pinch nary problem (or astatine slightest nan app says it's transferring).

Alternatives to try

If you're still looking for different options, our database of nan champion Zelle alternatives (of course, you tin usage Zelle successful this case) includes apps for illustration Cash App and Revolut.

Also: Cash App conscionable made it a batch easier to excavation your money pinch friends. Here's how

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