Uber says no, rideshare app experienced global outage today

Uber’s apps experienced worldwide outages today, with furious users complaining their drivers and/or meals never showed up, and others saying they were charged for rides they never took.

Uber’s popular rideshare and food delivery apps went into global meltdown earlier today, with users in Australia, US, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and India complaining of issues.

Uber has since confirmed to News Corp that all their apps are now fixed and fully operational.

The cause of the outage is unclear.

The problems varied from passengers being unable to book cars, drivers being unable to collect payment for their trips or see where they were picking up customers, and meals that never arrived.

Some also complained of being charged for trips that never happened.

The problem affected the US and Canada the most with everything going down at one point.

Here in Australia the issue mostly affected drivers, with app outages reported in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Uber’s support team took to Twitter during the chaos to apologise for the trouble and confirmed a team was working to fix the issue ASAP.

The issue lasted about three hours and appeared to mostly affect andriod phone users, however some iPhone users also complained of issues.

Reported outages for Uber this morning. Picture: Supplied

@Uber_Australia I need to submit this as my driver added too my trip without me in the vehicle but can’t click the button?? Very annoying pic.twitter.com/k8ptGdsRJ2

— katie kat (@this_is_katie1) December 10, 2018

@Uber_Support your app is not working in Australia, try to request a ride and is getting stuck!

— Chris Efthimiou (@chrisefti) December 10, 2018

@Uber_Support the Android app in Australia seems to be having issues. You can not see any cars, pickup points etc making the app almost unusable. My friend also was ordering a ride at the same time. Also android and same issue. My iOS device thankfully was not impacted.

— William Termini (@Will_Termini) December 10, 2018

“We appreciate your patience,” the support team wrote to users experiencing issues today.

Complaints mostly came from drivers, who said they were unable to work or claim their earnings due to the outage.

A meme of the Queen floating around online in response to the outages today as hungry Uber Eats customers waited for their meals fit for a king...

Some Uber Eats drivers complained they had picked up orders but then the customer’s address and contact details had disappeared so they were stuck with the food.

“He didn’t steal your burritos lol... if was anything like what happened to me all the delivery info disappeared once I picked up the order and started driving towards the customer,” Ohio driver Todd Mars tweeted.

“Your app is broken,” Michael Wrong tweeted at Uber Support.

One US driver complained he had accepted a ride but the app did not display the user’s name or address.

“This is disgusting. I’m living this week on Uber payouts and now no cashouts from the app. Uber needs to compensate for the loss of drivers at this time,” Ahmer Sarwar complained., he later confirmed his issue had been fixed.

“Down in Los Angeles. app does not show my location, profile or anything,” Kit Hunt wrote.

“App is down in Toronto... Was able to log in, but it only showed a world map and a blank icon instead of my photo. Showed my status as “offline”. Clicked the “Go” button but status remained offline. Obviously it wasn’t able to connect to the server. I think Uber will be out for quite awhile,” another user complained.

“Why did my driver just complete my trip before even picking me up... and I got charged... how?” Mallory Williamson tweeted.

We're sorry for the trouble. Our team is looking in this and working to resolve ASAP.

— Uber Support (@Uber_Support) December 10, 2018

Update: The Uber driver app crashed worldwide. #UberDown. Seems that Androids are especially affected, but some iPhones too. When will @Uber @Uber_Support issue a statement? https://t.co/poeYBr3h09

— Ari Herzog (@ariherzog) December 10, 2018

@Uber_Support hey there! I'm having trouble with the app. My driver is "arriving" but I can't track him. The GPS might be down or something? pic.twitter.com/YcHS5QCRjB

— Breehan (@thequeenBreeMUA) December 10, 2018

@Uber_Support what is happening with the Driver app in Atlanta? It was fine this morning, now it's only showing a world map and no account info. pic.twitter.com/hL2IV6AnlW

— C Brown (@cinderandbruno) December 11, 2018

I’ve requested an Uber 6 times and I’ve been charged 7.50, 7.50, 7.0 and 6.50 for all the CANCELLED UBERS which was cancelled by the APP. Refund me immediately this is not cool, there isn’t even an option to dispute this for some dumb reason. Unhappy customer @Uber_Support

— Claaaaaire (@claireyyham) December 11, 2018

Uber system is down so we have to go pick up our damn food pic.twitter.com/XRUVCK15pA

— Ashlee (@Nekomata_Ash) December 11, 2018