Let's Keep Track of TextNow Downtime in This Thread

Telecom
1

It's currently Feb 3, 2020 and TextNow.com has been down for at least 90 minutes, that I know of.

Is anyone else able to access textnow.com? I'm seeing a message on the homepage saying that it's down.

Update: Right after I posted this I was able to get in. Not sure what's going on or how long it will last.

2

No calls working for me and can't login to site.They are aware of the problem and are working on it. No estimate of when it will be fixed, I'm sure they are swamped.

3

From TextNow's twitter account:

Thank you all for your patience.

We can confirm our service issues are now resolved. Special characters/emojis may still be missing, and we will post a further update to when those are fully functioning again!
3:27 PM · Feb 3, 2020·Twitter for Android

4

Is it possible for a service shutdown to drain a phone's battery? If yes, then maybe TextNow had a service outage last night too -- my TextNow phone had a 70% charge last evening but was only 2% this morning (after a night of non-use).

5

You can check battery usage in settings and see what the offending app is.

6

A phone will use more battery if it's searching for a tower connection, or has a weak connection.
(My SO works in a facility where phones are required to be stored in metal lockers. Her phone would frequently exhaust the battery by the end of her shift until she started putting it in airplane mode.)

There have also been anecdotal reports of VoIP apps (notably FreedomPop) depleting battery faster than normal, perhaps if they keep reconnecting to the servers to report their presence to make incoming calls possible. This would likely be true of any other app that 'checks in' for updates and sync, as well.

7

oh yes, airplane mode! I forgot that! thanks for the reminder KentE!

I'll try that on the xp5. see, even though my old kyocera duraxts have 1360 mAh batteries they go ~1 month on standby before they need a charge. and they have a couple daily alarms. but the sonim xp5 even though it has a 3180 mAh battery it only lasts ~1 week on standby. no alarms on the xp5. I hardly use any of my mobile phones.