Apple Offers Temporary Fix for iOS Text Bug, Says Update's Coming Soon

[AndyHardwake]

No, it doesn't.

I really wish it was so… Strange they offer a workaround for such a minor glitch while some of their devices are completely unusable after 8.3 update. My 5s screen is unresponsive, it starts programs, opens windows and calls numbers on its own as soon as you unlock the screen and there's no way you can stop it from doing that. Some people with similar bugs tried changing their screens or even replacing the unit with no result. Apple has not even acknowledged the problem and no fix has been offered so far. For some reason I don't see 8.4 beta in my public beta account, so I'm stuck with a dead unit at least until WWDC. I've been their loyal customer for 18 years and this is the first time I see such an attitude to my problems on their part...

 

[keysofanxiety]

I've found cutting a potato in half, rubbing one half all over my phone, and then burying the rest in my front lawn at night to be a fairly reliable fix.

Offering this as advice is really dangerous, because somebody might try it. Everybody knows it's an onion you have to cut in half, not a potato.

 

[matthijst]

Apple Watch will reboot as well, and if you're unlucky (like I was) get stuck in a boot loop.

What I did to fix it:
- go to watch app and choose erase all settings (this doesnt do anything, cause the watch keeps rebooting)
- leave the watch laying by itself outside of bluetooth/wife range from the iphone (I was at a shopping center left the watch in the car cause it kept rebooting, so not sure if is helps to have it oustide of its known wifi network as well)
- when I came back to the car after 30 mins or so the watch was at the "setup you watch/choose language" screen.

 

[dilap]

If these instructions don't work, you can also change it settings for iMessages to delete after 30 days, and then set your date forward by a month. You lose your messages but it does work.

 

[AnonMac50]

My iPad on iOS 7 and my iPod on iOS 6 don't get the issue, but my iPhone on iOS 8 just resprings. After that I can open the messages app no problem...

 

[keysofanxiety]

Apple's official workaround to receiving a malicious message that crashes your phone is to reply to the person who sent it? Sounds like a great idea to me...

Well it's not an ideal scenario, but it works. That's why it's called a workaround.

 

[Makale.Helvetia]

do you think that we'll get a hotfix patch for that issue? or we'll wait 10 more days?

 

[Spinky99]

I've found that the best fix is to turn do not disturb on, on the chat that is causing your pine to respring. Howeve turning do not disturb on through control centre has no effect and the issue carrys on

 

[gnasher729]

I had to literally block two coworkers because they just kept sending this. It actually works out because now I will have to work less because when they call me after hours for work I wont get their call and have this great excuse!

Two co-workers? That would usually be a case for HR.

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Apple's official workaround to receiving a malicious message that crashes your phone is to reply to the person who sent it? Sounds like a great idea to me...

First, it fixes the problem.
Second, the message should be along the lines of "Wait until I get hold of you".

 

[Somian]

It might fix the problem but could be easily exploited by SMS scammers.

They just need to spam out this message, and relying to that number costs $5… oh hey, and you can't even see the number because if you try, the app crashes.

 

[c0valent]

Does the message app crash as well, or is it just my problem?

 

[Jbusick7944]

Please stop writing "...the Cupertino company..." in your articles when you mention Apple.

 

[TWSS37]

Apple Watch will reboot as well, and if you're unlucky (like I was) get stuck in a boot loop.

What I did to fix it:
- go to watch app and choose erase all settings (this doesnt do anything, cause the watch keeps rebooting)
- leave the watch laying by itself outside of bluetooth/wife range from the iphone (I was at a shopping center left the watch in the car cause it kept rebooting, so not sure if is helps to have it oustide of its known wifi network as well)
- when I came back to the car after 30 mins or so the watch was at the "setup you watch/choose language" screen.

Were there any additional cutting and burying of potatoes/onions that were required in addition to these steps?

 

[matthijst]

Were there any additional cutting and burying of potatoes/onions that were required in addition to these steps?

What's wrong with a "thanks for the help"?

I just posted what got my watch running again, which is more useful than your semi-funny remark.

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple's official workaround to receiving a malicious message that crashes your phone is to reply to the person who sent it? Sounds like a great idea to me...

Since the crash happens when the app launches to that unread message, without an official fix how exactly do you suggest getting rid of the unread message?

 

[Steve121178]

I've been having fun messing with people the past few days with this.

Hopefully they exclude you from their social circles.

 

[Thunderhawks]

"Hey Siri, fix this bug please" -Apple

Did you mean flying bugs or bug flies?

There are 3 stores nearby which have bug fly spray.

Showing 3 stores now.

 

[C DM]

It might fix the problem but could be easily exploited by SMS scammers.

They just need to spam out this message, and relying to that number costs $5… oh hey, and you can't even see the number because if you try, the app crashes.

$5 for replying?

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I really wish it was so… Strange they offer a workaround for such a minor glitch while some of their devices are completely unusable after 8.3 update. My 5s screen is unresponsive, it starts programs, opens windows and calls numbers on its own as soon as you unlock the screen and there's no way you can stop it from doing that. Some people with similar bugs tried changing their screens or even replacing the unit with no result. Apple has not even acknowledged the problem and no fix has been offered so far. For some reason I don't see 8.4 beta in my public beta account, so I'm stuck with a dead unit at least until WWDC. I've been their loyal customer for 18 years and this is the first time I see such an attitude to my problems on their part...

Doesn't seem like an iOS 8.3 issue givens that the a at majority with 8.3 aren't experiencing. Certainly sounds more like a hardware issue and/or perhaps some sort of a corrupt backup restore or data issue of some sort (although even that's less likely by the sound of it all). In any case, doesn't really relate to this particular known and widespread bug.

 

[patrickcwelsh]

I had to literally block two coworkers because they just kept sending this. It actually works out because now I will have to work less because when they call me after hours for work I wont get their call and have this great excuse!

If you turn off message previews (Settings>Notifications>Messages, and scroll to the bottom), you won't have an issue anymore. The problem occurs when the banner notification tries to present the text, so if you turn off previews, you won't run into the problem. Many people have posted this solution, and it's worked for me so far.

 

[brianvictor7]

Leave this around for a few more weeks and I'm sure somebody will be able to make a tidy fortune selling t-shirts about it.

Reminds me of the meme: "all your base are belong to us"

 

[jweinraub]

Apple's official workaround to receiving a malicious message that crashes your phone is to reply to the person who sent it? Sounds like a great idea to me...

Most likely it is one of your "friends" doing it like my boss did to me, so I sent the other variation that caused the entire phone to respring. But the point is, the offending message can't be last one in any thread, hence why you need to reply to it. Though deleting the thread is overkill since long as it isn't last, it won't crash MobileSMS.

 

[perkedel]

Did you mean flying bugs or bug flies?

There are 3 stores nearby which have bug fly spray.

Showing 3 stores now.

that's great! that's the kind of thing I expect Siri would say.

It says here the bug affects twitter and snapchat too.

 

[jweinraub]

Since the crash happens when the app launches to that unread message, without an official fix how exactly do you suggest getting rid of the unread message?

Ask Siri. She will tell you to sent you the message and reply. You don't need to delete the message, you just can't have the unicode string as the last message received anywhere. Once you reply, your reply is now the last message in the thread. MobileSMS will then work fine once again.

 

[C DM]

If you turn off message previews (Settings>Notifications>Messages, and scroll to the bottom), you won't have an issue anymore. The problem occurs when the banner notification tries to present the text, so if you turn off previews, you won't run into the problem. Many people have posted this solution, and it's worked for me so far.

It can still cause an issue when you try to open the Messages app and that message tries to be loaded on the main page listing conversations with a preview of the last message in each conversation.

 

[darngooddesign]

Ask Siri. She will tell you to sent you the message and reply. You don't need to delete the message, you just can't have the unicode string as the last message received anywhere. Once you reply, your reply is now the last message in the thread. MobileSMS will then work fine once again.

That was my point.