To make your iPhone crash and restart, just type this character .

In iOS, there are occasionally strange text string vulnerabilities that can cause your iPhone to crash with just a few characters. This week, a security researcher discovered a new vulnerability on Mastodon that will cause your iPhone to crash when you enter the following characters in Spotlight search or the App Library: "":: (Have you tried it yourself? )

1. Foreign media TechCrunch further discovered that you actually only need to enter "": followed by any fourth character to trigger a crash.

2. However, this is not a major security vulnerability. There is currently no evidence that anyone can trigger this vulnerability remotely. A crash will only occur when the user manually enters these characters.

   

   
   9to5Mac tested this vulnerability on multiple iPhones and multiple iOS versions. In the latest iOS 17, entering these characters will cause the iPhone's home screen interface (SpringBoard) to crash.
   In iOS 18 and iOS 18.1, entering these characters will cause Spotlight search to freeze briefly, but it is not as severe a crash as iOS 17.
   This is not the first time that iPhone’s character bug causes the device to crash.
3. The "Effective Power" Bug
   When iPhone users receive a text message containing a specific combination of Unicode characters, it will cause the SMS app to crash or even restart the entire device.
   

   

   Bug Prank

Due to spreading through social software such as text messages, this bug was used as a prank. Fortunately, Apple subsequently released an iOS update that fixed this bug.

2016 "Arabic Text" Bug

In 2016, a text string containing certain Arabic characters was discovered to cause iPhones to crash. This bug also affects the SMS app, causing it to crash even when the character is displayed in the notification shade.

Again, this bug was widely shared on social media and messaging apps since it could be sent via messages. Apple promptly fixed the issue with an iOS update.

2018 "Telugu Character" Bug

In 2018, it was discovered that the iOS system would crash when handling specific characters of the Indian Telugu language. This character causes several apps such as Messages, Safari, WhatsApp, etc. to not work properly. The user only needs to receive or copy the character and the relevant app will crash. Apple quickly released an iOS 11.2.6 update that fixed the issue.

2020 "Sindhi Characters" Bug
In 2020, a string of combined text containing Sindhi language characters and the Italian flag caused iOS devices to crash. When these characters appear via a message or notification, the device reboots.
Apple fixed this bug in iOS 13.4.5.
Although the above bugs are different, they are all potential vulnerabilities in text processing, causing the iPhone device to crash or restart. Apple usually fixes these issues quickly through software updates to ensure that the user experience is not affected.
Hope this ""::" bug can be resolved quickly.

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