Before the end of 2017, Apple had shockingly bad weeks of software problems, and it looks like 2018 is not starting so well either. A new bug has been discovered in iOS 11 that lets people send a specific character that will crash an iPhone and block access to the Messages app in iOS and popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Outlook for iPhone and Gmail.
Apple plans on fixing the problem in an iOS update before the release of iOS 11.3 coming this spring. The bug itself involves sending an Indian language (Telugu) character to devices, and Apple’s iOS Springboard will crash once the message has been received. Messages will no longer open as the app is trying and failing to load the character, and it appears that the only way to regain access to your iMessages is to have another friend send you a message and try to delete the thread that contained the bad character.
You can see the bug crash the iPhone in the video below:
Another iOS bug is crashing iPhones and disabling access to iMessage https://t.co/9do0xyz7k4 pic.twitter.com/15Ripq7PP8
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) February 15, 2018
This is not the first time that iOS has crashed due to weird characters, URLs or even videos. As Apple faces more security issues and software bugs, the company is reportedly focusing on reliability and performance in iOS 12 over new features. Some features have reportedly been pushed back as a result, allowing Apple to address some of the security and reliability issues discovered in both iOS and macOS recently.
