Substack down? The answer is at the top of this page. Appys checks Substack’s official status page as you arrive, so what you see is never more than a few minutes old. Below is what to check on your side, what to do while you wait, and how to hear when it’s fixed.
Substack down for everyone, or just you?
If the status above says Substack is working normally but it isn’t working for you, the problem is most likely closer to home. Press Is it just me? at the top of the page: your own device and our server both try to reach substack.com, and the answer tells you which side the problem is on.
Then try these quick checks:
- Open Substack on another network, such as mobile data instead of Wi-Fi.
- Try a different browser or a private window, to rule out an old cache or a browser extension.
- Restart your router if lots of websites are slow, not just this one.
- Make sure your device’s date and time are set automatically: a wrong clock can stop secure connections.
- Refresh, check for an app update, and try the website instead of the app.
Substack down? What to do while you wait
- Check which part is affected. Substack splits its status into 7 parts, listed under What Substack reports on above, so a problem in one may not touch the ones you use.
- Wait before posting again: posts made during an outage can fail or appear twice.
- Scheduled posts may go out late, so check them once it’s back.
- If you rely on it for work, let people know on another channel.
- Keep this page open: the status changes by itself when Substack posts the fix, so there’s no need to keep refreshing.
If it drags on and the work can’t wait, the alternatives near the top of this page are other newsletter platforms that are working right now.
Why apps like Substack go down
Social apps usually go down after updates, during big live events when everyone posts at once, or when part of their network fails. Even big outages are often partial, hitting one feature, one region or one group of users rather than everyone. That’s why Substack can work fine for you while its status page reports a problem, or the other way round.
How Appys checks Substack
Every status on this page comes from Substack’s official status page, where Substack’s own team posts problems and fixes. Its status page covers 7 parts: Substack publications, Writer dashboards, Email delivery, Subscription invoice processing, Substack.com, Push Notifications and Custom domains. Appys reads it whenever someone opens this page and regularly in between, keeps a record of every problem it posts and works out the 90-day uptime from that record. We never change what Substack says, and nobody can pay to change a status or a record.
A quiet status page doesn’t always mean nothing is wrong: some companies post small problems late, or not at all. That’s why this page also shows how openly Substack reports its problems.
How long do Substack outages last?
It depends on what broke. Small problems are often fixed within the hour, while a big outage can take most of a day. The history above lists every problem Substack has posted recently, when each one started and how long it took to fix, so you can see what’s normal for Substack rather than guessing. While a problem is open, the latest update from Substack is shown at the top of this page.
About Substack
Newsletters, podcasts and paid subscriptions.
On Appys it’s listed under Social and entertainment, with the other newsletter platforms we follow.
Hear when Substack is back
Send one email to [email protected] with Watch Substack in the subject and we’ll email you when Substack reports a major outage, and again when it’s fixed. You can also follow its problems in a feed reader or a Slack channel, or add a live badge to your own site; both are explained above.
Spotted Substack down? Share this page so other people can check too. This is the picture they’ll see:
