Bugs on your phone can be annoying, but also, they can be so weird that they’re just funny. Now, there’s an issue that crashes iPhones and iPads after typing a few specific characters.
The bug, which was found by a security researcher on Wednesday, is triggered by typing “”:: on your iPhone. That’s really about it. Typing those characters in the Search bar in the Settings app, or the App Library search bar, causes the Apple causes Springboard (the main interface on iOS and iPadOS). The crash causes Springboard to reload briefly, taking people back to their lock screen. In some cases, the screen may flash black for a second. It’s definitely not something that will break your phone, but it’s actually kind of funny.
Apple has not yet commented on the bug. However, researchers believe that it does not pose a security risk. According to iOS security researcher Ryan Stortz and Patrick Wardle, founder of security startup DoubleYou, the bug is not a security issue. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone other than an iOS device owner manually typing the characters could trigger this bug. This is unlike a bug discovered in 2020 that caused the Twitter app to crash for any user viewing a tweet containing a certain set of characters. Another bug in 2015 caused iPhones to crash when they received a text message with a specific string of characters. By now, bugs like these seem to be a recurring thing with iPhones.
In all seriousness, you should avoid typing the specific set of characters that trigger the bug until Apple releases a fix. Although the bug is not a security issue, it can be inconvenient and disruptive, especially since it requires you to unlock the device again after the restart is complete.
Source: TechCrunch
