OpenAI Reports Partial Outage of ChatGPT and Codex, Users See Mixed Issues
Key Points
- Outage began around 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. GMT) on April 20, 2026.
- ChatGPT, Codex and related API services listed as partially down.
- 63% of poll respondents struggled to access old conversations; 27% could not sign in.
- Downdetector reports fell sharply by mid‑afternoon in both the U.S. and U.K.
- OpenAI’s status page remained red, indicating ongoing investigation.
- Issues varied: blank pages, login errors, missing conversation history, but some could still generate code with Codex.
Around 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. GMT) on April 20, 2026, OpenAI’s flagship chatbot ChatGPT and its code‑generation tool Codex experienced a partial outage. Users reported problems ranging from login failures to missing conversation histories and sluggish image generation. A poll conducted by TechRadar showed 63 percent of respondents struggled to access old chats, while 27 percent could not sign in. By early afternoon the number of complaints on Downdetector began to fall, and OpenAI’s status page indicated ongoing investigation but no clear timeline for full restoration.
OpenAI’s status page turned red at about 10 a.m. Eastern Time on April 20, flagging a "partial outage" that hit ChatGPT, Codex and related API services. The incident disrupted nearly every facet of the chatbot’s functionality: users logged in found conversations unavailable, voice mode stalled, image generation stalled, and some were locked out at the sign‑in screen.
TechRadar’s AI editor ran a quick poll to gauge the most common pain points. Sixty‑three percent of voters said the biggest obstacle was accessing old conversations, while 27 percent cited an inability to log in. The disparity suggests the outage affected users differently depending on whether they were already signed in when the problem struck.
OpenAI’s first public update arrived at 11:13 a.m. ET, stating the company was "investigating the issue for the listed services" and confirming that impacted users could not access ChatGPT, Codex or the API platform. A second update at 12:03 p.m. ET reiterated the investigation and noted the outage remained "partial" rather than a full service collapse.
Meanwhile, Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker, showed a rapid decline in reports from both the United States and the United Kingdom. The UK peak topped 8,000 complaints, whereas the U.S. count hovered around 1,875. By mid‑afternoon the volume of new reports had tapered, indicating that many users were regaining access as OpenAI worked behind the scenes.
Individual experiences varied. Some users reported a blank page on the web interface, while others could start new chats but received an "unable to load conversation" error when trying to retrieve older threads. The iOS app displayed a generic error message for those attempting to log in. Codex, however, appeared functional for a subset of developers, underscoring the uneven nature of the disruption.
OpenAI has not provided a concrete timeline for a full fix, but the company’s status page continues to reassure users that the investigation is ongoing. As of the latest update, the partial outage flag remains active, and the list of affected components still includes login, conversation history, voice mode, and image generation.
For users still encountering problems, OpenAI encourages reporting issues through its status page or the poll linked on TechRadar’s coverage. The consensus among early responders is that the worst of the outage appears to be behind them, but a minority continue to experience intermittent failures.