Gmail, Google Drive back up and running after experiencing worldwide outages

March 13 (UPI) -- Gmail and Google Drive were back to running as usual Google said Wednesday after users worldwide reported issues accessing several of the tech company's services.

At around noon Wednesday, Google first reported through its G Suite Status Dashboard that it was investigating reports of issues with Gmail and Google Drive, saying that affected users would be able to access both services but would see "error messages, high latency, and/or other unexpected behavior."

At 3:13 p.m., Google said that the problem with its staple Gmail and Google Drive services "should be resolved."

"We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better," it said through its G Suite Status Dashboard.

The issue affected users worldwide, with reports of service disruptions coming in from North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, the Guardian reported.

Google had also reported issues with its app engine and cloud storage, with the issue appearing to impact services such as Google Maps with users who try to access Street View greeted with a black screen instead of images of the input location.

Hours later, it also said that users would experience issues accessing or attaching files in various Google products as well as accessing and saving draft emails and sending emails. The uploading and downloading of files may also be unsuccessful.

The notice of the resumption of Google services comes as users of Facebook and its associated applications reported issues accessing the platforms.

"We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible," the Facebook said in a Tweet.

Google and Facebook are two of the biggest tech companies in the world with over a billion active users a day.