AppleInsider Staff
While the fix for the Indian language character bug is in the iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 betas, Apple is not waiting for them to issue an update, which will rectify the issue at least on iPhones and iPads.
On Thursday afternoon, Apple told The Verge that it is planning to release an iOS 11 update "soon" that will fix the crashes associated with the character. A timetable for release of what is likely to be iOS 11.2.6 is unknown.
The character is in India's Telugu language, and if it is received, the iOS Springboard not only crashes but prevents Messages from opening again. The fix is to get another person to send a benign message, at which point it should be possible to delete the offending thread.
Affected third-party apps include Gmail, Outlook, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. It can potentially be harder to remove contaminated messaging threads, depending on the software.
At the same time, some other messaging apps like Skype and Telegram seem to be immune.
Charles Martin
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10 Comments
How many Telugu language users are iPhone users ? Few so why rush ? I rather have Apple add Touch ID feature that acts "Return to Home Screen" but doesn't require to click Home button, similar to Touch ID unlocking iPhone. Can be turn ON/OFF under Settings->Touch ID & Passcode".
India is a market that has the opportunity to grow. This must be fixed quickly to show Apple’s commitment.
I wish they would fix the displaced dock issue in iPad. Or maybe the out of order texts in Messages. Those two bugs have been around for two versions of iOS and no change yet.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/33005755?start=0&tstart=0 iPad Dock thread
https://discussions.apple.com/message/33003130?start=0&tstart=0 Messages out of order thread
Perception goes a long way. If everyone is reporting this issue, it does show commitment to quickly fix it. I do agree that any unknown character should gracefully fail.