Slack Down? Users Report Loading Delays and Connection Problems as Workplace Chat App Hit by Wednesday Outage

SAN FRANCISCO — Users of Slack, the workplace messaging platform owned by Salesforce, reported problems on Wednesday morning. Some people said they had trouble loading the app and connecting to their workspaces in the middle of the U.S. workday.

Outage-tracking site Downdetector said user reports pointed to problems with Slack beginning at 10:01 a.m. Eastern time. "User reports indicate problems with Slack since 10:01 AM EST. How is it affecting you?" Downdetector posted on X at 10:15 a.m., using the hashtag #SlackDown.

According to an analysis of Downdetector's chart by the online community DesignTAXI, the volume of user reports began surging at about 9:48 a.m. Eastern. Users turned to social media to describe connectivity problems.

Slack's status page showed an active incident under investigation, according to the monitoring service Pulsetic, which tracks the company's official status updates. "We're investigating a new incident," the notice said. It said that "some users may be experiencing delays when loading Slack and when using Slack features." The company added that it was working to understand the full impact on users.

Slack classified the incident as minor. It did not immediately say what caused the problems or how many customers were affected. The company did not issue a separate public statement.

The disruption did not appear to be universal. Several independent monitoring services that check whether Slack's website responds showed the service as operational Wednesday morning. Among them:

• UptimeRobot reported no unusual response times or error codes.
• IncidentHub listed all of Slack's main components as working, including login, messaging, notifications, search and file sharing.
• OutageHQ and other trackers also reported normal service.

The mixed picture suggests the problems may have affected only some users or certain features, rather than causing a complete outage. Slack notes on its status page that it "is a distributed platform and during any given incident it is rare for all Slack teams to be affected."

Outage trackers such as Downdetector rely on reports submitted by users. A spike in complaints can reflect problems in certain regions, on certain devices or with specific features.

Workplace disruption

Even short disruptions to Slack can cause problems for businesses. Millions of workers rely on the platform for messaging, file sharing, video and audio calls known as huddles, and automated workflows. Many companies have replaced much of their internal email with Slack, so an outage can bring communication to a halt.

The timing was especially disruptive because the problems began just as the workday was getting into full swing on the East Coast. Wednesday is Veterans Day, a federal holiday, but most private businesses remain open.

On social media, some users said they were unable to load channels or that the app was slow to respond. Others joked about the unexpected break from work, a familiar reaction during past Slack outages.

A history of disruptions

Slack has faced several service problems over the past year.

On Oct. 22, some Slack customers experienced disrupted real-time connections, delayed message delivery and errors loading conversation history, according to the company's status page. Independent monitoring services recorded two Slack outages across different features in the 30 days before Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Slack suffered a disruption that affected core functions including launching the app, sending messages and loading threads. The company resolved it by rolling back a change, and it apologized to users in a status update. Other incidents this year affected customers using Enterprise Key Management, the feature that lets organizations control their own encryption keys. Those customers reported problems sending messages and loading channels.

One of Slack's most significant recent outages came in February 2025, when many users were unable to send messages or load workspaces for several hours.

What users can do

Users having trouble with Slack can try several steps:

• Check Slack's status page. The company's official status page shows the current state of features including login, messaging, connectivity, files and huddles.
• Restart the app. Fully quit and reopen the Slack desktop or mobile app.
• Try another device or the browser. If the desktop app is not loading, Slack may work in a web browser or on a phone, or the other way around.
• Check your connection. Problems with a local network, virtual private network or firewall can sometimes look like a Slack outage.
• Clear the cache. Slack's desktop app has an option to clear its cache and restart, which can fix some loading problems.

Slack says people experiencing connection issues can use its troubleshooting tools or contact the company by email.

Salesforce acquired Slack in 2021 for about $27.7 billion. The platform is one of the most widely used workplace communication tools, competing with Microsoft Teams and Google Chat.