My App Was Working Yesterday and Now It's Completely Down
Your app was running perfectly fine — maybe for days, weeks, or even months. Then suddenly, without you changing anything, it stopped working. Users are seeing errors, the page won't load, or features that worked yesterday are now broken.
This is terrifying, especially if you have paying customers or an important demo coming up. You didn't touch anything, so why did it break? The answer is usually that something in the background changed — a subscription expired, a service went down, or an automatic update broke something.
The key is to figure out what changed and fix it as quickly as possible. Most sudden outages have simple causes once you know where to look.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- Hosting subscription expired — Your free trial or paid plan ended and the hosting provider took your app offline
- Database hit its limit — Your database ran out of free storage or connections and stopped accepting requests
- API key expired or was revoked — A third-party service you depend on (payments, email, maps) changed or expired your access key
- SSL certificate expired — Your site's security certificate ran out and browsers now block the page entirely
- Automatic updates broke something — A library or dependency auto-updated to a version that's not compatible with your code
- The service your app depends on went down — If Supabase, Firebase, Vercel, or another service has an outage, your app goes down too
How to Fix It
- Check your hosting platform first — Log in and see if there are any warnings, billing issues, or outage notices
- Check third-party service status — Visit the status pages of services you use (Supabase status, Vercel status, Stripe status, etc.)
- Look at billing and subscriptions — Check if any free trials expired or credit cards were declined
- Check your domain and SSL — Make sure your domain is still connected and the SSL certificate hasn't expired
- Look at error messages — Open the app and note any error codes (500, 503, etc.) to help identify the problem
- Redeploy the app — Sometimes simply redeploying from your hosting dashboard fixes temporary issues
Real developers can help you.
Jaime Orts-Caroff
I'm a Senior Android developer, open to work in various fields
legrab
I'll fill this later
Stanislav Prigodich
15+ years building iOS and web apps at startups and enterprise companies. I want to use that experience to help builders ship real products - when something breaks, I'm here to fix it.
Meïr Ankri
Full-stack developer specializing in React / Next.js / Node.js with 6+ years of experience. I've worked across various sectors including automotive (Reezocar/Société Générale), healthcare (Medical Link SaaS), and e-commerce (Glasman). I build web apps end-to-end, from architecture to production, with a focus on scalability, performance, and code quality. I also mentor junior developers and contribute to technical decisions and code reviews.
Mehdi Ben Haddou
- Founder of Chessigma (1M+ users) & many small projects
- ex Founding Engineer @Uplane (YC F25)
- ex Software Engineer @Amazon and @Booking.com
rayush33
JavaScript (React.js, React Native, Node.js) Developer with demonstrated industry experience of 4+ years, actively looking for opportunities to hone my skills as well as help small-scale business owners with solutions to technical problems
Kingsley Omage
Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs.
Nam Tran
10 years as fullstack developer
zipking
I am a technologist and product builder dedicated to creating high-impact solutions at the intersection of AI and specialized markets. Currently, I am focused on PropScan (EstateGuard), an AI-driven SaaS platform tailored for the Japanese real estate industry, and exploring the potential of Archify.
As an INFJ-T, I approach development with a "systems-thinking" mindset—balancing technical precision with a deep understanding of user needs. I particularly enjoy the challenge of architecting Vertical AI SaaS and optimizing Small Language Models (SLMs) to solve specific, real-world business problems. Whether I'm in a CTO-level leadership role or hands-on with the code, I thrive on building tools that turn complex data into actionable value.
Matthew Butler
Systems Development Engineer @ Amazon Web Services
Describe what's wrong in plain English. No technical knowledge needed.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
I didn't change anything, so why did it break?
Many things can change without you doing anything: hosting subscriptions expire, database storage fills up, SSL certificates expire, or services you depend on have their own outages. Regular maintenance prevents most of these surprises.
How can I prevent this from happening again?
Set up uptime monitoring (free tools like UptimeRobot will alert you immediately), keep track of when subscriptions renew, and make sure payment methods on all services are up to date.