A message bug caused several iPhones to crash. The text bug automatically locked the iOS device before completely shutting it down.
Reports surfaced the internet over the weekend about a text message suspected to be an iPhone text bug. The said SMS caused the reported iPhones to be unresponsive. The affected device later crashed automatically. Due to the length of time in the unresponsive state, some users had to push restart their iPhones.
The alleged iPad and iPhone text bug come in the form of a string of Sindhi characters. Once the user receives and opens the message, the iPhone suddenly malfunctions.
A Twitter post from Twitter handler @EveryApplePro showed an actual video of the iPhone text bug. In the Twitter video, the holder showed the actual SMS characters he received.
The craziest iOS crash text bug ???? pic.twitter.com/29LJPb67WP
— EverythingApplePro (@EveryApplePro) April 23, 2020
The uploader also showed an actual demonstration of how the iPhone text bug crashed his device. He even tried to turn off his phone. However, even the power off button did not work anymore.
How easily the text bug can spread
As the Twitter uploader mentioned, the text bug does not only affect iOS devices through SMS. The string of Sindhi characters can impact iPhone and iPad devices even when sent through social media.
Devices such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch are susceptible to the bug. Reported cases proved that the text bug currently affects all Apple devices running iOS 13.4.1.
The solution to the text bug
Apple reportedly included the patch for the text bug on its 13.4.5. Yet the said bug fix is only available for developers as it is still in beta mode.
There is still no specific date on when the latest iOS version update will roll out to the public. The best solution, for now, is to disable the notifications so that the text messages will not automatically open. This way the users can choose which message to open and which ones to discard.
Not the first iPhone text bug
The current text bug is like the software issue that affected iPhones and iPads a few years back. Text bombs invaded iOS devices in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
During the iOS 11 launch, an Indian language text message created similar damage to iOS devices such as the current one. The difference is that the iOS 11 text bug has a more limited avenue of impact. The previous bug only penetrates iOS devices through the imessage.
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