iPhone 6 (Photo : Reuters)
The text message bug that affected millions of iPhone users has finally made its way to Twitter and Snapchat. While Twitter users reported minor damage, the same cannot be said to Snapchat whose iOS text chat cause devices to crash.
The text message bug which contains several Unicode characters first made its impact on devices running on the iOS platform as well as Apple Watch and Mac. Once the text message is opened by the oblivious user, it causes the Message app on iOS to crash and in some occasion automatically reboot the device.
According to The Guardian, the same booby-trap text message is making waves in Twitter. The case with Twitter is more alarming since it can affect users through private message or public mentions. If the user is using an iPhone or iOS device in browsing Twitter, the message bug will instantly crash their device.
The damage done to Snapchat is more severe. When the malicious text message is sent using Snapchat, it causes the iPhone to completely crash. This render affected users unable to check the chat history of the sender of the bug without crashing their device. Some Snapchat users claim that the text message bug cannot be cleared or deleted.
According to Tech FirstPost, Apple has already released workarounds in order to get rid of the bug. This includes using Siri to reply to the sender of the malicious text message which in turn allows them to delete the message thread. A similar method can also bypass the bug using the Photo app.
Apple said in a statement that it is already working on a software update in order to fix the issue. In the meantime, Apple advised its users to temporarily disable notifications in order to prevent the bug from crashing their device.
