The BBC iPlayer app is experiencing issues today as the England vs Iran World Cup game kicked off. Independent outage monitor Down Detector has recorded a huge spike in BBC iPlayer down reports as the Three Lions World Cup opener kicked off. At the time of writing Down Detector UK has registered a peak of more than 10,000 reports of iPlayer down.
These reports began surging in around 1pm UK time, which is when the England vs Iran game began.
Despite the widespread reports of iPlayer being down it looks like the problem is affecting the app only, with the web-based version of iPlayer still up and running.
So if you’re having trouble with the iOS or Android app of iPlayer for instance you can instead head to the official BBC website in your browser and access iPlayer there.
When iPlayer users tried to open the official app today around the time of the England vs Iran game they were greeted with an error message which said: “No network connection.
“You can still watch downloaded programmes.”
As the issues with the iPlayer app hit BBC viewers took to Twitter to report the problems they were facing.
One tweeted: “@BBCiPlayer What am I paying my licence tax for? iPlayer down? How embarrassing.”
Another posted: “IPlayer down. Brilliant. Why do I pay my TV license again?”
One added: “@BBCiPlayer classic BBC. iplayer down for England’s first match!”
And BBC documentary presenter Louis Theroux wrote: “Freaking iPlayer and bbc sounds both down??”
The England vs Iran game is the Three Lions’ World Cup opener in Qatar.
Gareth Southgate’s side are in Group B at the 2022 World Cup which also includes Wales and the USA.