Google Cloud Outage Hits Revolut and Spotify: What Happened

A major Google Cloud outage disrupted apps and payments across Europe on Monday, October 20. Revolut was hit the hardest, as customers saw cards declined and couldn’t open the app for hours. Spotify, several UK banks and other popular services also had problems.

Google blamed a “power event” in its London data centre region. Most services were back by the afternoon, and Revolut says its customers’ money and data are safe.

At a glance

DateMonday, October 20

Affected regionGoogle Cloud London (europe-west2)

CauseA power event, according to Google

DurationAbout eight hours

What Happened

The Google Cloud outage started shortly after 7 a.m. UK time. Within an hour, Downdetector had logged more than 1,500 reports. Google’s status page then confirmed errors and network failures in its London region, while its Paris and Frankfurt regions kept running.

Google restored most workloads by the afternoon. However, some apps needed extra time to get fully back to normal.

Which Services Were Hit

Revolut had the biggest problems. Some customers were locked out of their accounts, and others had cards declined at supermarkets and petrol stations. Revolut reported issues in the UK, France, Spain and the US, and its status page briefly listed 28 services as partly unavailable.

Spotify, which runs mainly on Google Cloud, also had an outage. In addition, users reported issues with Lloyds, Halifax, DPD and Rightmove, and court video hearings in England and Wales stopped for a while.

ImportantScammers often call or text during outages and pretend to be bank support. Revolut will never ask you to move money to a “safe account” or share a code.

Why a Backup Payment Method Helps

A Google Cloud outage of this size is rare, but it shows the risk of relying on a single card or app. When one service goes down, a second way to pay keeps you going.

A prepaid voucher is a simple backup for online shopping, since it doesn’t depend on your banking app. Paysafecard, for example, works with a 16-digit PIN at thousands of online shops, and it’s easy to keep one ready for a day like this.

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