Apple has confirmed the existence of the “Unicode of Death” security exploit in iMessages.
“We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update,” an Apple rep said today in an e-mail to Reuters.
The bug begins with a string of Arabic characters, added to dupe credulous iMessage recipients into thinking they’re targeted by Middle Eastern terrorist groups, but the actual vector of harm comes from some Unicode at the end of the message, which can overload your iPhone’s memory.
Some potential solutions include turning off text previews on your iPhone, sending pictures back to the person who sent you the message in the first place, and even keeping iMessages out of Notification Center. Here’s the full list of potential fixes and safety precautions.
Source: Reuters
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
3 responses to “Apple confirms iMessage bug is crashing iPhones”
Another workaround which I just tried.. though you would loose all your previous messages but would fix the issue.
1. Goto Settings > General > Date & Time > Turn Off “Set Automatically”
2. Set new Date 31 days ahead. Example if today it’s 28/May/2015, then set it as 28/June/2015.
3. Now Goto Settings > Messages > Under “MESSAGE HISTORY” set Keep Message as “30 Days”.
4. Done. All the message would be deleted including the bugged message.
No need to reset/format/or depend on the sender…
thanks. this really helped me when nothing else worked. ur da best!!!
Tho fixed it 4 me thanks