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WhatsApp was down for millions of users around the world, causing panic for New Year's revellers trying to make plans and wish their friends a prosperous 2018.

The website DownDetector.co.uk reported a spike in outage reports around 6pm UK time. But by 7.30pm users were reporting that they were able to send and receive messages again.

Users across the UK and in countries including Barbados, India, Japan, Panama, South Africa, Spain, and Qatar had said they were unable to connect to the app.

One user wrote: "Messages won't deliver. Can't see when people have been online. This is my lifeline for my new year plans. I've had to go old school and text and ring people."

A WhatsApp spokeswoman confirmed to Mirror Online that service had been restored, but the firm did not explain what caused the global outage.

(Image: Getty)

WhatsApp users vented their frustration on social media and DownDetector.co.uk as they spent about 90 minutes without service.

One person wrote: "Not working for me in the UK. Refusing to connect with wi fi or 4G."

Another posted: "No connection in UK, London, anyone else also same problem?"

And an angry user wrote: "I swear WhatsApp is ALWAYS down on New year's Eve!"

(Image: Getty)

A spokesperson for Facebook-owned WhatsApp said: “WhatsApp users around the world experienced a brief outage today that has now been resolved.

"We apologise for the inconvenience.”

The firm did not provide an explanation for the outage.

It had already been announced that WhatsApp would stop working on some phone operating systems as of New Year's Day.

Any BlackBerry device running BlackBerry OS Or BlackBerry 10 will no longer be able to use the messaging app.

The popular messaging app launched in January 2009 and was bought by Facebook in February 2014 for nearly $20billion.

It claims to have more than one billion users.