A newly
discovered bug in Apple's iOS mobile
operating system has emerged this evening that lets iPhone users crash another
user’s iPhone by just sending a tiny string of text characters in a message.
The bug is
related to the Messages app and the notification system used by iPhone and iPad
devices and appears to work only if there is iPhone to iPhone communication.
A string of
particular Arabic characters (see the image above) used in the text message
causes the iPhone to continuously crash when a certain text is received and —
reportedly in some cases — causes the iPhone to reboot without notice.
How to Crash an iPhone with a Message:
iPhone users who
receive the string of text characters with Messages open would not be able to
go back to other conversations without crashing the app, but…
...if the string
is received while the iPhone is on the lock screen, users would be unable to
open the Messages app entirely, or in some cases, the text could cause the
iPhone to reboot without any notice or explanation.
People Exploiting Bug to bother others:
Users have
already started using this forbidden string for the evil purpose. After
appearing first on Reddit, the weird string of text characters has been started exploiting by
people, sending the text to other iPhone users to block them from seeing
Messages from other recipients.
The bug does not
occur accidentally since the string of characters is a very specific set of
Unicode characters, and many have fallen victims to this new Unicode character
bug.
Some Workarounds to Undo the Effect:
However, there
are several workarounds that can undo the damage. The effect can be undone by
sending another message (any normal text) to the person who sent you the
malicious string, canceling out the initial strand.
Another option
is to send the person who sent the string a message using the share sheet by
simply pressing the "share" button in other apps, or send yourself a
message via Siri, or ask Siri to "send a message" to whoever sent it.
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