In short: a list of services that are "down" is usually a count of complaints, not a confirmation. Check three things before you change anything: whether colleagues on another connection see the same problem, what the provider's official status page says, and whether the web version of the app works.

Three sources, three different meanings

Complaint trackers

Count how many people report a problem. Useful as an early signal, not as proof.

Official status page

What the provider itself confirms, with an incident number and updates.

Your own test

What you and a colleague see, on the app, on the web version and on another connection.

Use all three together. The official status page decides. Hexafusion IT Solutions.

Why viral outage lists mislead

  • Complaint trackers count reports, not outages. A spike means many people clicked "I have a problem". It does not say what the problem is or whose it is.
  • People report the wrong service. When email or sign-in fails, users also report the meeting app, the scheduling tool and the phone system that depend on it.
  • One outage spreads into other apps. Many business apps sign in with a Microsoft or Google account, or read your calendar and mailbox. When that provider has trouble, those parts of the other apps fail, while the apps themselves are running.

That is what happened on November 12: the real incident was at Microsoft 365. Our incident report has the details.

A three-step check

  1. Ask a colleague, and try another connection. If a colleague has the same problem, it is not your computer. If the service works on a phone using mobile data but not on the office network, the problem is your network.
  2. Read the provider's own status page. For Microsoft 365, your administrator sees incidents in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Health, then Service health. For Google Workspace, use the Google Workspace Status Dashboard. For any other provider, search for its name with the word "status" and use the page on the provider's own website.
  3. Try the web version. If the app fails but the web version works, the problem is local: the app, an add-in or the device.

When only part of an app fails

If a meeting or scheduling app works except for sign-in, calendar sync or presence, look at the provider behind those parts. The app will recover when that provider does, and nothing needs to be changed in the app.

What not to do

  • Do not reset passwords, reinstall apps or change settings because of a list on social media.
  • Do not announce an outage to clients until the provider confirms it.
  • Do not follow links in posts that claim to show a status page. Go to the provider's website yourself.

See also: our incident report on the Microsoft 365 outage of November 12, 2026, the Microsoft 365 continuity checklist, and what to do when Outlook is down.

Common questions

How can I tell whether a cloud service is really down?
Ask a colleague, try another connection, read the provider's own status page, and try the web version of the app. The provider's status page decides.
Are complaint trackers reliable?
They are a useful early signal, because they show that many people report a problem. They do not confirm an outage or say which service is at fault.
Why do several apps fail at the same time?
Many business apps sign in with a Microsoft or Google account or read your calendar and mailbox. When that provider has trouble, those parts of the other apps fail too.
Should I change anything during an outage?
No. Resetting passwords or reinstalling apps does not fix a provider's outage and creates extra work afterwards.

Want someone to check this for you?

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