[Fixed] Google Messages for web is down in rare outage

Following the big update late last year, Google Messages for web is facing an outage this evening.

Update: Access was restored around 7:30 p.m. I did not have to sign-in again/re-pair after the outage.

As of around 5 p.m. PT, going to messages.google.com/web would cause your browser (Chrome) to endlessly load before returning a HTTP 503 Service Unavailable error. Those with the Progressive Web App (PWA) installed are stuck on the splash screen.

This eventually switched to a 502 Bad Gateway error from Google: “The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request. Please try again in 30 seconds. That’s all we know.”

As a rather frequent user of Google Messages for web, I don’t remember the service ever going down like this. I’ve had no issues with the Google Account Device pairing method. Instead of scanning a QR code, you just sign-in and select the emoji that appears on your phone.

There are no issues with sending RCS chats and images on the actual Google Messages Android app this evening.

Updating…

More on Google Messages:

• Google Messages rolls out text field redesign with shortcuts bar [U]
• Photomoji in Google Messages more widely rolling out [U]
• You say ‘Allo’ and I say ‘Bard is coming to Google Messages’