AppleInsider Staff
Apple on Thursday posted a support document detailing workarounds for a recently discovered bug that crashes the iOS Messages app when a specific text string is received.
In the Support Pages entry, Apple said it was aware of an iMessage issue that causes the app to crash when a specific string of unicode text is received, specifically the Arabic characters seen in the screenshot above.
- Ask Siri to "read unread messages."
- Use Siri to reply to the malicious message. After you reply, you'll be able to open Messages again.
- In Messages, swipe left to delete the entire thread. Or tap and hold the malicious message, tap More, and delete the message from the thread.
Apple says a more permanent fix is in the works for a future software update, though an exact release timeline was not offered.
The bug discovered on Wednesday is thought to be a code handling problem; iOS cannot correctly render the block of unicode characters in question. When the text string is sent from one iPhone to another, it sets off a cascade of processing errors that eat up memory and ultimately crashes Messages. In some cases Springboard also crashes, triggering an iPhone reboot sequence.
Aside from Apple's workaround, users have found that receiving a new message from the same sender halts the text rendering process for that conversation, returning Messages to full functionality. Alternatively, users can send themselves a picture or message using an app supporting Share Sheets.
Andrew O'Hara
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
22 Comments
Tee hee!
This will probably get rolled into the 8.4 update, which means it will be later than planned.
Fucking amazing how much mainstream media play this has been getting, been splashed on my local news for the past 2 days with leads such as "DO YOU HAVE AN IPHONE? YOUR NEXT MESSAGE MIGHT BE YOUR LAST" and "MASSIVE IPHONE HACK, YOUR TEXTS ARE NOT SAFE". If I didn't know better I would have burned my phone. Unreal.
Unless you have complete asshole "friends", who also happen to know about this very specific combination of symbols to send, I don't see how you would be affected by this. My contact list spans 800 people, and magically not a single one sent me this shit.
What they also failed is that that specific string does NOT always cause iPhone to crash. Only one out of 50 times on average would it crash.
[quote name="Slurpy" url="/t/186474/apple-details-workaround-for-ios-messages-bug-permanent-fix-coming-soon#post_2728511"]Fucking amazing how much mainstream media play this has been getting, been splashed on my local news for the past 2 days with leads such as "DO YOU HAVE AN IPHONE? YOUR NEXT MESSAGE MIGHT BE YOUR LAST" and "MASSIVE IPHONE HACK, YOUR TEXTS ARE NOT SAFE". If I didn't know better I would have burned my phone. Unreal. Unless you have complete asshole "friends", who also happen to know about this very specific combination of symbols to send, I don't see how you would be affected by this. My contact list spans 800 people, and magically not a single one sent me this shit. [/quote] qft Sad state journalism is in. Sensationalist hyped up bs designed for Internet consumption. Ethics ? Professionalism ? Integrity ? Thrown out the window for clicks. pffft