**Is Yahoo Down? (And What About AOL) – Current Status & What You Should Do**
Are you having trouble accessing your Yahoo Mail or AOL Mail account? You're not alone. On January 21, 2026, a widespread outage affected multiple Yahoo properties, including Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and more.
**What Happened?**
The disruption was caused by a traffic-management change made by Yahoo, which overloaded certain front-end systems. This resulted in login errors, pages not loading, and "too many requests" style errors for thousands of users. The outage was reported to have lasted less than an hour for most users, with some pockets experiencing lingering reconnection delays as caches and routing normalized.
**Current Status**
According to Yahoo, services are now restored, and most users should be back online. However, if you're still experiencing issues, here's what you can do:
### Quick Troubleshooting Steps
1. **Check Official Status & Outage Trackers**: Visit the official Yahoo website or check social media handles for updates. 2. **Clear Browser Cache & Cookies**: Try clearing your browser cache and cookies to see if it resolves the issue. 3. **Switch Networks**: Switch from mobile data to Wi-Fi or vice versa to rule out local routing/DNS issues. 4. **Try a Public DNS**: Configure a public DNS like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 as a test.
**What's Next?**
Yahoo is likely to publish a post-mortem report explaining the root cause of the outage and remediation steps taken. Expect more detail on why the traffic-management change was rolled out and how they'll prevent recurrence.
### Tips for IT Teams & Admins
1. **Design Fallback Channels**: Design fallback channels for critical alerts, such as secondary email or SMS notifications. 2. **Collect Error Logs**: Collect timestamps, error logs, response codes, and regions affected to help with post-incident reports.
**Is Verizon Still Down?**
No, Yahoo and AOL services are now restored. If you still experience issues, follow the troubleshooting steps above.
### Frequently Asked Questions
1. **Q: Was this caused by a hack or DDoS?** A: No, according to Yahoo, it was not a cyberattack. 2. **Q: Will I lose emails or data because of the outage?** A: There are no widespread reports of data loss. 3. **Q: How long did the outage last?** A: The major disruption lasted under an hour for most users.
Stay informed with these reliable resources:
* Downdetector (user reports heat map) * Official support handles: @YahooCare, @AOLSupportHelp * Search for major news outlets (Tom's Guide, The Verge, AP)