A number of Google services, including Gmail, Google+ and Hangouts, took a nosedive Friday. All services have since returned to normal after outages that affected users around the globe.
Google+ appeared to be the last hold out, though as of 1:28 p.m. PST it too was up and running once again.
TechRadar's own checks have found Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, Talk, Docs and Drive to be functioning just fine.
According to Google's App Status Dashboard, these services along with Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Sites and Groups all experienced service disruptions at some point. Currently, these services are accompanied by a green "no issues" dot on the Dashboard, though we'll continue to update this article if problems resurface.
#gmaildown
Panic struck when Gmail was rendered "temporarily unavailable" for users everywhere, and many took to Twitter to gripe, poke fun and generally commiserate over the outage. The problem was so widespread, "#gmaildown," "Gmail" and "Google" became top trending topics.
Gmail service looks to be back up for most if not all users, though again, we'll update if the situation changes.
When asked for comment about the outage, Google replied that is is "investigating reports of an issue with some Google services," and recommended checking the Apps Status Dashboard for updates.
Update: A second message from Google noted, "Most of the issues w/ Google services have been resolved."
Rivals smell blood
Bemusedly, a number of competitors jumped on Google's Friday flap to tout their own services.
Yahoo's Twitter account took it upon itself to inform followers of the Gmail outage, posting a picture of the error message users were greeted with when the service went down. It later tweeted that the Yahoo Mail rival "appears to be working again."
Outlook's microblogging arm blasted: "Service outages got you down? Give http://Outlook.com a try: http://www.tryoutlook.com."
Maybe Google just wanted us all to get a head start on the weekend?
- We've got our full Google Glass Explorer Edition review for you right here!
