- Bug involves sending a Telugu character to iOS devices
- iOS Springboard crashes upon receiving the symbol as notification
- iOS 11.3 beta version reportedly unaffected
iOS 11 reportedly has a bug that can crash your iPhone as
well as block access to your Messages app, as well as third-party apps like
Facebook Messenger, Gmail, Outlook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. The bug takes effect
when a particular Telugu character is received, or even just pasted into a text
area. This reportedly leads to iOS applications becoming frozen and
inaccessible, and sometimes the whole operating system crashes.
As per Italian blog Mobile World, which spotted the bug, the
issue not only affects iOS devices but any Apple product, including watchOS and
macOS.
As we mentioned, the bug involves a particular Telugu
character. When this character is sent to devices, Apple's iOS Springboard
crashes upon receiving the message. This reportedly happens when a user sends
the symbol and iOS shows it as a notification. Moreover, if the character is
received within an app, such as WhatsApp or Twitter, that particular app will
crash. Also, all attempts to re-open the app will be futile, says the report.
Additionally, according to OpenRadar, cited by Mobile World,
inserting the symbol in any system text renderer like TextField, Label,
TextView, always resulted in a crash. Even The Verge reported that the bug was
tested successfully on iPhone models running iOS 11.2.5. However, it said that
the public beta version of iOS 11.3 is still unaffected - thus, we can expect a
speedy resolution once Apple launches its latest iOS version.
This is one of many instances when iOS has been reported to
be crashed due to random characters. In January this year, an iMessage bug
called 'chaiOS' was discovered on iOS and macOS. It was found to crash or
freeze the Messages app when a specific link was received. Last year, a bug was
found wherein sending a white flag emoji, a zero, and a rainbow emoji in one
message crashed any iPhone variant running iOS 8 and above.