From Snapchat to Venmo, and even two airlines, the AWS outage on October 20, 2025, caused mass pandemonium around the world. Though Amazon said it was able to identify the problem, multiple online services and apps still aren’t working for countless users. And for those trying to make and receive payments, the urgency to restore Venmo is rising. So, is Venmo still down, or will transactions still be on pause?
Below, get a status update on Venmo, and learn how its outage happened.
Why Is Venmo Not Working?
Venmo likely wasn’t working on October 20 because of the widespread AWS outage. Though Amazon does not own Venmo, its online service shutdown sent shockwaves throughout the technology industry, affecting airlines, banks and other essential services.
The problem exploded in the early morning hours on October 20. While Amazon promptly said it “mitigated” the outage, it still warned users that they could still see errors in loading certain apps and platforms.
“The underlying DNS issue has been fully mitigated, and most AWS Service operations are succeeding normally now,” Amazon said in a statement. “Some requests may be throttled while we work toward full resolution. Additionally, some services are continuing to work through a backlog of events such as Cloudtrail and Lambda.”
Venmo has yet to publicly comment on its outage. The last update the company made was via its X account four days ago on October 16 about its Taco Bell Rewards deal. Multiple commenters complained under the post that they were logged out of their accounts and couldn’t access them.
Now there’s an easier way to get a free taco. Just pay with Venmo in the Taco Bell app. It’s basically a free taco button.
Offer available 10/15/25 – 12/31/25 or while supplies last. Participating locations only. Taco Bell Rewards Members get a free Cantina Chicken Soft Taco… pic.twitter.com/9pbJUiciZt
— Venmo (@Venmo) October 16, 2025
Is Venmo Still Down?
Yes, for thousands of Venmo customers, the app is still down at the time of publication. According to Downdetector, a surge in outage reports came at around 11:00 a.m. ET, and it decreased by noon.
Who Owns Venmo?
PayPal has owned Venmo since 2013.
When Will Venmo Be Back Up?
Since Venmo has yet to comment on its outage, it’s unclear when the app will be completely restored. However, according to Graeme Bragg, a computer networking expert from the University of Southampton, the issues with all online platforms might continue for “the rest of the day.”
“This morning, an issue affecting Amazon’s US East caused significant disruption, with the underlying cause attributed to a problem with DNS – the ‘phone book’ of the internet that helps computers find each other,” Bragg said, according to The Independent. “This has affected lots of services hosted in different regions because Amazon host a lot of their management infrastructure that other services depend on in that region. This is a significant outage because of how many companies rely on Amazon and the global scale of the impact.”
Bragg continued, “The underlying issue has now been resolved but it will take some time to propagate across the internet. Amazon’s servers also have a backlog of requests to work through, so it’s likely that we will see some disruption for the rest of the day.”
