Signal problems are frustrating — especially when you cannot tell whether the issue is on your end or theirs. This guide covers every common fix, from a 30-second quick check to advanced network diagnostics. Login failures, app not loading, and slow performance are the most common issues.
Step 1: Confirm it's actually down
Before spending time troubleshooting locally, confirm Signal has a server-side problem.
— Use the live status check at the top of this page to ping Signal's servers from our infrastructure — Check the report count — if dozens of users are filing reports simultaneously, it is a real outage — Check Signal's official status page for any incident notices
If Signal is confirmed down globally, skip to the "While you wait" section. No local fix will help.
Step 2: Quick fixes (try these first)
1. **Force refresh** — Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) clears stale cache 2. **Force-close and reopen the app** — clears in-memory state without losing your session 3. **Check your internet connection** — open any other website; if that fails, your connection is the problem 4. **Switch networks** — toggle between Wi-Fi and mobile data to isolate the issue 5. **Check notification permissions** — iOS/Android may be blocking Signal from syncing in the background 6. **Log out and back in** — authentication tokens expire silently 7. **Try the web version** — go to signal.org in your browser as an alternative to the desktop/mobile app
Step 3: Browser and app deep fixes
**Clear browser cache and cookies** Go to your browser settings and clear all cached data for the past 24 hours. This removes corrupted cached responses that can make a live site appear broken. In Chrome: Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data. In Firefox: Settings → Privacy → Clear Data.
**Try incognito/private mode** Private browsing ignores extensions and uses no cached data. If Signal works in incognito but not your normal browser, the problem is an extension or cached data — not Signal.
**Disable extensions one at a time** Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, and some VPN extensions actively block requests on sites like Signal. Disable them temporarily to confirm. If Signal works with extensions off, re-enable them one by one to find the culprit.
**Try a different browser** If Chrome is having issues, try Firefox, Edge, or Safari. Browser-specific rendering bugs are rare but real.
Step 4: Network and DNS troubleshooting
**Flush your DNS cache** Your OS caches DNS lookups, and a stale entry can make Signal unreachable even when it is up.
— Windows: Open Command Prompt and run `ipconfig /flushdns` — Mac: Run `sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder` — Linux: Run `sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches`
**Switch to a faster DNS resolver** Your ISP's DNS can be slow or unreliable. Switching takes 2 minutes and often improves loading of any site: — Cloudflare: Primary 1.1.1.1 / Secondary 1.0.0.1 — Google: Primary 8.8.8.8 / Secondary 8.8.4.4
Go to your router's DNS settings (usually 192.168.1.1) and enter the addresses above.
**Rule out your ISP** Switch to your phone's cellular data and test Signal there. If it works on cellular but not your home internet, the issue is with your ISP — not Signal.
While you wait for ${name} to come back
Once you have confirmed Signal is down globally, there is nothing more to do but wait. Here is what typically happens:
— **0–5 minutes**: Signal's on-call engineer gets paged — **5–15 minutes**: Initial triage and status page update — **15–45 minutes**: Fix deployed for deployment errors; may take longer for infrastructure issues — **1–4 hours**: Typical resolution time for cloud provider incidents (AWS, Cloudflare, etc.)
Set up an alert on WebsiteDown to get notified by email or Telegram the moment Signal recovers. You will know the instant it is safe to try again — without checking manually.
Common error codes explained
**502 Bad Gateway** — Signal's servers received your request but got an error from an upstream service. Usually resolves within minutes.
**503 Service Unavailable** — Signal is overloaded or under maintenance. No action on your end will fix this.
**504 Gateway Timeout** — Servers are taking too long to respond, often due to database slowdowns or traffic spikes.
**ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED** — Signal's server actively rejected the connection. Either the service is down or your IP is being blocked.
**ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED** — Your DNS resolver cannot find Signal's server IP. Try flushing your DNS cache or switching to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (Google).
Is Signal down right now?
The live status panel shows real-time monitoring data updated every 30 seconds. Report count is the strongest signal: a sudden spike means the problem is Signal's, not yours.
If you are still having Signal issues after trying these fixes and the status shows operational, the issue may be account-specific — contact Signal support directly.
Related services to check: WhatsApp, Gmail, Zoom, Slack.