This new text bomb crashes most Mac and iOS apps with a single Unicode symbol

TechCrunch has learned of a doubtless serious new bug moving a large vary of Apple devices.

During their development work on a world news feed, software system engineers at ciao Browser discovered 2 Unicode symbols in a very non-English language which will crash any Apple device that uses Apple’s default urban center font. The bug instigates crashes on iPhones, iPads, Macs and even Watch OS devices that show text containing the image on their screens.

When one in all the 2 symbols is displayed in associate degree app, the software system crashes right away. In several cases, the app can't be reopened and should be reinstalled. TechCrunch was ready to recreate this behavior on 2 iPhones running associate degree older version of iOS, one iPhone running iOS eleven.2.5 and a MacBook professional running range.

The bug crashes apps together with Mail, Twitter, Messages, Slack, Instagram and Facebook. From our testing, it conjointly crashed Jumpcut, a duplicate and paste plugin for macintosh. whereas it at first appeared that the Chrome browser for macintosh was unaffected and will safely show the image, it later crashed Chrome and therefore the software system wouldn't open while not fucking till uninstalled and reinstalled.

TechCrunch has been involved with Apple regarding the potential timeline for a software system fix and can update this story consequently. consistent with the team at ciao Browser, Apple is awake to the bug and it's going to are according by another development team, as well. [Update: Apple has confirmed that there’s a fix coming back before long. Apparently this solely affects current versions of the software system, and this can be already mounted within the betas of iOS, tvOS, macOS and watchOS.]

This is Apple’s second text bomb headache of the year. In January, software system investigator patriarch Masri discovered associate degree iOS fault that allowed a particular address to crash any iPhone it absolutely was texted to, generally leading to a kernel panic. In 2016, another bug may crash any iPhone or the hunting expedition browser if a user clicked the address for CrashSafari.com. In 2015, a questionable “Unicode of Death” may overload associate degree iPhone’s memory victimization some Arabic characters. currently we’re viewing Unicode of Death a pair of.0.

Because numerous apps square measure affected, the new text bomb might be accustomed produce mass chaos if spammed across associate degree open social platform or accustomed target people via email or electronic communication. The new bug affects a broad swath of Apple devices and crashes nearly any major app they run, creating it significantly damaging if not resolved quickly.