WhatsApp goes down and causes minor Middle East crisis

A global outage by messaging service WhatsApp sparked several hours of minor mayhem in the Middle East on Wednesday evening.

For the lonely few hours away from their phones it was a chance to crack jokes on social media about the app that has become deeply ingrained in the lives of millions across the region.

"Whatsapp = Whatsdown" was one commonly shared meme on Facebook and Twitter during the brief blackout which lasted for several hours.

Social media became a platform for frustrated WhatsApp fans in the region to share their horror about the outage.

And most people made the same joke:

— Jumana (@Jumana248) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Waiting for whatsapp to be fixed#whatsappdown pic.twitter.com/XlCPN3JGh2 — Jumana (@Jumana248) May 3, 2017

And this one:

— Hadi Abboud (@HadiAbboud_) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Whatsapp is down pic.twitter.com/UG2E4L0qCB — Hadi Abboud (@HadiAbboud_) May 3, 2017

Some turned to faith to get them through the challenging time:

— Enas ELfatih (@enas_elfatih) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post #تعطل_واتساب Pray for WhatsApp 🙏 — Enas ELfatih (@enas_elfatih) May 3, 2017

Others used the chance to reminisce about simpler, care free times:

— ALI12 (@tfallet676) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post #تعطل_واتساب يطلعون البطاريه ويرجعونه — ALI12 (@tfallet676) May 3, 2017

"Take the battery out and replace it"

Some even found a way of taking a cheeky swipe at regional leaders:

— Rami al-Lolah (@RamiAILoIah) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Who is behind WhatsApp worldwide outage? Note: There are only two so do not bother thinking; just pick one.. — Rami al-Lolah (@RamiAILoIah) May 3, 2017

And when it was all over, there was a collective sigh of relief as people got back to messaging their friends:

فرصة حلوة تتعرف على أهلك 🤣 #تعطل_واتساب — الحسين الكازروني (@sh3r_993) May 3, 2017 " style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post فرصة حلوة تتعرف على أهلك 🤣 #تعطل_واتساب — الحسين الكازروني (@sh3r_993) May 3, 2017

"Great opportunity to get to know the family"

And then it was back to the drama, once again:

— ياسمين (@yassmiinelsayed) May 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post El whatsapp rag3 w msh shayfa ay far2 w still loner❤️ — ياسمين (@yassmiinelsayed) May 3, 2017

"WhatsApp's back but I don't see any difference and still loner"