Communication
Keybase
Keybase is an encrypted messaging and file sharing platform that ties cryptographic identities to social profiles for verifiable secure communication.
What is Keybase?
Keybase launched in 2014 with an interesting problem at its center: PGP encryption existed and worked, but its user experience was so hostile that almost nobody used it. The founders — Max Krohn and Chris Coyne, previously of OKCupid — built Keybase as an identity verification and encrypted communication system designed to be actually usable. The core insight was linking cryptographic public keys to verified social media accounts, GitHub profiles, and domain names, so that anyone could verify who they were talking to without needing to exchange key fingerprints through a secondary channel. Zoom acquired Keybase in 2020.
Keybase's technical infrastructure handles several distinct functions: the public key directory that makes identity verification possible, the end-to-end encrypted messaging and file-sharing system, the Keybase Teams feature for encrypted group collaboration, and the Stellar cryptocurrency wallet integration that was added later. The key verification system depends on Keybase's servers to publish and retrieve public keys, but by design, encrypted messages cannot be read by Keybase's servers even if they are delivered through them. Since Zoom's acquisition, Keybase's development pace has slowed, and the product primarily serves its existing user community rather than aggressively growing.
When Keybase's services have problems, the failure modes depend on which component is affected. The key server going down prevents new identity verifications and key lookups even though users can still communicate with already-verified contacts using locally cached keys. The chat and file-sharing backend failing causes message delivery to stall, showing messages as sent but not delivered. Team file repositories — Keybase's encrypted shared file system — may become inaccessible when the file backend is degraded. The Keybase app on desktop and mobile may fail to sync team activity, showing a stale view of conversations that have continued without the visible updates appearing.
Outage.gg tracks Keybase service status using community reports from users across web, desktop, and mobile. If messaging is not working, key lookups are failing, or the app is not syncing, the live status page shows current impact from the Keybase community.
Common Keybase Problems
Issues users most frequently report when Keybase is having problems.
Messages not sending
Messages appear stuck, fail to deliver, or recipients are not receiving them.
Login & authentication
Unable to sign in, 2FA not working, or being unexpectedly logged out.
Feed & content not loading
Posts, stories, or notifications are not appearing or are failing to refresh.
App & website errors
The app or website returns error pages, crashes, or is completely unreachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Keybase outages and server status.
You can check the live Keybase server status at outage.gg/services/keybase. The page shows real-time community-submitted outage reports, an hourly trend chart, and the current health status.
Keybase can stop working for a number of reasons including scheduled maintenance windows, unexpected server failures, network infrastructure problems, or DDoS attacks. Check the live status page on Outage.gg for the latest community reports to see if others are experiencing the same issue.
Go to outage.gg/services/keybase and click the "Report an Issue" button. Your report is counted immediately and helps confirm whether a problem is widespread. Reports from multiple users trigger a status change visible to everyone watching the page.
Click the "Notify Me" bell button on the Keybase status page at outage.gg/services/keybase. Create a free account and we will send you an email the moment Keybase comes back online — no app download required.
Many services maintain official status pages with planned maintenance notices. Outage.gg aggregates real-time community-reported outages which often surface faster than official channels.
Related Services
Other services you might be tracking alongside Keybase.
