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Apple gets bug fix out

by on20 February 2018


Bug crashes most Apple platforms

Apple has rushed out a fix a "feature" which crashes each of its platforms without dragging its feet saying that it only affects a minority of users who have to be holding their equipment the wrong way.

The fix, which does not involve a rubber band, was pushed in new versions of iOS, macOS and watchOS to fix the bug, which was caused when someone pasted in or received a single Indian-language character in select communications apps - most notably in iMessages, Safari and the app store.

Using a specific character in the Telugu language native to India was enough to crash a variety of chat apps, including iMessage, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Gmail and Outlook, though Telegram and Skype were seemingly immune.

The issue was troubling for iPhone users, as the affected apps would continue to crash even after reloading them, essentially shutting users out - only deleting the character using complex workarounds would liberate the app. Worse, it could even reportedly crash the entire iOS SpringBoard software that runs the home screen.

Still at least they could say that they have a "better quality" flaw than those experienced by android users.

Since the issue also reportedly affected software like the App Store, Apple also included tvOS in its slew of mass updates. Per its security updates page, the following were pushed out today, which users should download if they want to avoid a stray character crashing their apps.

The latest version of iOS is 11.2.6
The latest version of macOS is 10.13.3
The latest version of tvOS is 11.2.5
The latest version of watchOS is 6.2.3

 

Last modified on 20 February 2018
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