Apple Fixes iMessage Crashing Bug in iOS 8.4 Beta 4

[MacRumors]

Apple seeded the fourth beta of iOS 8.4 to developers yesterday with a fix for a messaging bug that causes an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to crash after receiving a specific string of Unicode characters via iMessage or SMS (via HDBlog.it). The bug also affects the Mac and Apple Watch and extends to third-party messaging apps such as Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp, as the issue is tied to the way banner notifications process Unicode.

Sending the string of characters to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch results in an immediate respring, causing the device to crash and quickly reboot. From there, if the Messages app was opened at a list view, the Messages app crashes automatically when you try to open it. If it was opened to the conversation where you received the message, the app will open, but attempting to go to another conversation causes Messages to crash.

Apple recently published a support document on its website with a temporary workaround for the problem, and ensured that a permanent fix would be issued in a future software update. That fix has arrived in the form of iOS 8.4, which will be released ahead of Apple Music's launch on June 30. In the meantime, affected users can ask Siri to "read unread messages" and use Siri to reply to the malicious message in order to regain access to the Messages app and delete the message.

Article Link: Apple Fixes iMessage Crashing Bug in iOS 8.4 Beta 4

 

[bushido]

there was a beta 4 release yesterday? was there a post? didnt even know :-o

edit: oh there was!

anyway glad its been fixed

 

[iTom17]

Am I the only one without this bug? Some guys in my class wanted to fool me by sending that message to my iPhone 6. Nothing happened. xD The notification showing up did nothing, neither did reading the actual message in the Messages app. Nope, I can have that text on my iPhone (running iOS 8.3) without any problems.

 

[KdParker]

need to get this out to everyone. Hopefully they will do a push soon.

 

[FrizzleFryBen]

People made this out to be soooooo awesome. I sent it to my GF and it didn't anything to her phone but messed with my phone and took me 15 minutes to get it back up. Guess that's Karma

 

[Rayfire]

I was hoping they would release this is an immediate OTA minor update for everyone, oh well, we just have to be patient I guess.

 

[2457282]

downloaded and confirmed. this weird text string does not crash my phone. Let's wait to see what new creative text string someone comes up with?

 

[mcfly88]

I was hoping they would release this is an immediate OTA minor update for everyone, oh well, we just have to be patient I guess.

This bug is just so terrible. At least everyone's devices will be usable on the 30th.

 

[6836838]

This bug is just so terrible. At least everyone's devices will be usable on the 30th.

If you have friends sending you that message, you don't need an update. You need new friends.

 

[nepalisherpa]

I'm surprised that they chose to implement this in 8.4 rather than releasing a small update right away.

 

[keysofanxiety]

downloaded and confirmed. this weird text string does not crash my phone. Let's wait to see what new creative text string someone comes up with?

It's definitely going to be a combination of words that would never be used in the same sentence. "Purchase new Blackberry phone" would be a good one to try.

 

[mazz0]

I just sent myself this message using iOS 9 Beta 1 and now my battery life is rubbish.

 

[iConnected]

Apple Fixes iMessage Crashing Bug ....

Got excited there for a moment, until I saw that the very end of the headline referred to a beta.

So it's still only pending being fixed for everyone except beta testers.

 

[bawbac]

I just sent myself this message using iOS 9 Beta 1 and now my battery life is rubbish.

At least your phone won't crash from receiving a text message.

 

[The Doctor11]

So... Where is 8.3.1??? Today maybe?

 

[C DM]

So... Where is 8.3.1??? Today maybe?

Probably not ever.

 

[The Doctor11]

Probably not ever.

Well that sucks... I guess Apple hasn't seen high schools since the bug came out

 

[newtestleper]

Am I the only one without this bug? Some guys in my class wanted to fool me by sending that message to my iPhone 6. Nothing happened. xD The notification showing up did nothing, neither did reading the actual message in the Messages app. Nope, I can have that text on my iPhone (running iOS 8.3) without any problems.

I was going to give a helpful answer, but then I saw "xD".

 

[Thunderhawks]

Well that sucks... I guess Apple hasn't seen high schools since the bug came out

God forbid high school students would have to put away the phone and talk to somebody face to face.

 

[HenryDJP]

Am I the only one without this bug? Some guys in my class wanted to fool me by sending that message to my iPhone 6. Nothing happened. xD The notification showing up did nothing, neither did reading the actual message in the Messages app. Nope, I can have that text on my iPhone (running iOS 8.3) without any problems.

I haven't had a single issue with iMessage. I post about 50 messages a day.

 

[mcfly88]

If you have friends sending you that message, you don't need an update. You need new friends.

I was being sarcastic

 

[Billberryjuice]

Am I the only one without this bug? Some guys in my class wanted to fool me by sending that message to my iPhone 6. Nothing happened. xD The notification showing up did nothing, neither did reading the actual message in the Messages app. Nope, I can have that text on my iPhone (running iOS 8.3) without any problems.

Perhaps they had pasted it incorrectly - I've been generally avoiding the ordeal but I recall that it's possible to copy the text, paste it again, and a return is then required to make it actually affect the device (but of course I could be wrong).

 

[Mike MA]

I bet they will find a new bug. Now more than ever .

 

[6836838]

I was being sarcastic

Ah, sarcasm. Right.

 

[69Mustang]

It's definitely going to be a combination of words that would never be used in the same sentence. "Purchase new Blackberry phone" would be a good one to try.

This made me literally laugh out loud.