Canva, the popular graphic design platform, is reeling from a widespread outage that has rendered its services inaccessible to millions of users worldwide. As of 19:16 AEDT (02:46 IST), the platform’s status page reports “significantly increased error rates” impacting nearly all functionalities, with no clear timeline for restoration.
The disruption, linked to a broader Amazon Web Services (AWS) failure, has sparked frustration among users from India to the U.S., halting workflows for marketers, designers, and educators.
A Platform in Paralysis
The outage began escalating around 18:14 AEDT (03:44 IST), with Canva’s status updates confirming “Major Outage” across critical features: login, editing, saving, downloading, and sharing designs.
Mobile apps (iOS and Android), desktop versions (macOS and Windows), and integrations like Google Classroom and Moodle are also down. Even the Canva AI Connector, Apps SDK, and billing systems are affected, leaving users unable to access projects or seek support.
DownDetector has recorded over 15,000 user complaints in recent hours, with 20% citing server connection issues and 17% reporting app failures.
In India, where Canva is a go-to for festive graphics like Diwali campaigns, users expressed dismay on X: “Canva is down completely, app and web versions. Can’t log in,” one user posted. Another from the Philippines noted, “Ini-report ng netizens na hindi nila ma-access ang Canva ngayong Lunes.”
AWS at the Core
The root cause appears to be a failure in AWS’s US-EAST-1 region, where elevated error rates and latency were reported starting around 03:11 AM ET (12:41 IST).
Canva, heavily reliant on AWS’s cloud infrastructure, is among several platforms affected, though the impact on its 220 million monthly active users is particularly acute.
“Our team is actively investigating and working to restore full access as quickly as possible,” Canva’s status page states, a message unchanged since the initial alert.
On X, #CanvaDown is trending as users vent and share memes about stalled projects. A U.S. marketer tweeted, “Was supposed to launch promo campaigns… Canva down, chaos!” An Indian agency head added, “@canva what is happening? It is a critical day!” The outage’s timing is especially painful for small businesses and freelancers, with one user estimating thousands in lost productivity.
This marks Canva’s second major outage in six months, highlighting the risks of cloud-based platforms. As users wait for updates, the incident underscores the fragility of digital workflows. Canva advises checking its status page for progress, but for now, designers worldwide are left refreshing tabs and hoping for a swift fix. Updates will follow as more details emerge.
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