Strange text message bug causes iPhones to crash—reports

Screen grab from Reddit

A bizarre iOS bug is reportedly making iPhones crash, causing the Messages app or the phone itself to reboot upon receipt of a specific string of text message.

According to technology news site mashable.com, the issue was first raised on social networking site Reddit, where users complained of a string of text with unicode characters and partially in Arabic that was causing their iPhones to shut down.

“People who are sending the sequence are likely doing so either as a joke or with nefarious intent to lock the recipient’s Messages app and block incoming texts. It’s not limited to communications between iPhones; a normal SMS text can trigger the bug, as well,” the report read.

The report added that the bug could be fixed by sending a reply to the text message.

Apple was also quoted as saying that the company was aware of the issue, adding it would make a fix available in a software update. RC