Apple Working on Fix for iPhone Crash Bug

A message containing the code which can crash phones, tested by MacRumors
A message containing the code which can crash phones, tested by MacRumors

Apple is working on a fix for a software bug that leaves iPhones vulnerable to crashing when they receive a text message with a specific string of characters, leaving many owners with phones caught in a loop of rebooting and crashing.

The strange software bug causes the device to crash and quickly reboot when it receives a message involving a specific message that includes symbols and Arabic characters. Upon rebooting, if the Messages app was opened in list view, it will continue to crash when users try to open it. If the app was opened to the conversation view, will will open as normal, but then crash when users try to enter another conversation.

The bug was first discovered by users of the online community Reddit, but news quickly spread after the bug was confirmed. Several fixes have been suggested, including sending a reply to the attack message or users messaging themselves, and AppleCare support reps have been helping users affected by the problem.

The bug does not appear to be a universal problem, implying it may only affect certain versions of iOS or users with a certain combination of settings (or both). Apple have not confirmed what has caused the bug, but Reddit users have speculated it is due to how banner notifications process Unicode text.