PSA: There's a New Character Bug That Can Cause iPhones to Crash

[MacRumors]

There is a new character bug that can result in a respring on the iPhone or iPad, reports TechCrunch. Typing "":: in the search field after swiping over to the App Library will cause the Springboard to reset, dropping you back at the iPhone's Lock Screen. A respring is not a full reset, and it only takes a few seconds for the iPhone to be functional again.

Typing the same characters into the Settings app search interface will cause the Settings app to crash, but putting it in a Spotlight search doesn't seem to impact anything. The respring seemed to only happen on devices running iOS 17 when we tested, but putting those characters into a search interface on a device running iOS 18 does result in some odd behavior, such as the characters disappearing and the Settings app crashing.

You can actually type in just "": and any other character to cause the respring to happen, so it's something related to the first three symbols in a four character sequence.

Character bugs have in the past spread though Messages and have allowed users to crash the iPhones of others, but this is a much more insignificant issue because the iPhone owner needs to manually type (or paste) the characters into a search interface. There does not appear to be a way to affect an iPhone through Messages or another texting platform.

It's likely Apple will address the issue with an iOS update in the near future.

Article Link: PSA: There's a New Character Bug That Can Cause iPhones to Crash

 

[icanhazmac]

In before "You're typing it wrong!" 🤣

 

[adamw]

Glad this has come to light. Should be easy for Apple to fix.

 

[vertsix]

This reminds me of the effective power bug from iOS 8.3.

iOS and not being able to parse Unicode special characters properly... name a more iconic duo.

 

[vertsix]

This definitely crashes SpringBoard for me from the App Library search bar as specified in this article on iOS 17.6.1 (21G101) on iPhone 15 Pro Max. Just tested.

 

[PsykX]

Seems random, how do people find these things? Are they just accidental discoveries?
I'm serious, I develop apps as a hobby and I want to become better at finding/fixing bugs.

 

[Simon89]

Doesn’t crash on 18.1

 

[Chazak]

Does anyone actually know someone who did this and had a crash before they read this here or some other tech blog?

Seems like someone has too much time on their hands.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

looks like a bug

 

[Abthevolfan92]

It's odd that this has taken this long to discover when have been on Ios 17 for a year

 

[klasma]

Now try typing “""::; DROP TABLE APPS;--”.

 

[jz0309]

Typing "":: in the search field after swiping over to the App Library will cause the Springboard to reset, dropping you back at the iPhone's Lock Screen.

I mean, who does this? Seriously trying to understand

 

[N0ughtsAndCr0sses]

Yeah. It crashed it indeed.

18.1 beta 2

 

[S.B.G]

Other than people trying to poke holes in iOS or looking for potential exploits, I don't why a normal user would type these characters, even by mistake.

 

[Artsketch]

OTA 17.6.2? or 17.6.1.1.1?

 

[now i see it]

Those characters don’t crash anything on iOS 15

 

[klasma]

I'm serious, I develop apps as a hobby and I want to become better at finding/fixing bugs.

Look up fuzzing. But really, the correct thing to do is for each and every function call and operation you code, ask yourself what the valid inputs for it are, whether the input values will be interpreted with in-band syntax you might need to escape, and whether you have established that only such valid, and escaped if needed, inputs can occur in the arguments you pass.

 

[DunedinD]

I mean, who does this? Seriously trying to understand

The ‘public’ or people looking to increase their clicks with almost entirely pointless articles. Take your pick. More of Hardwick’s excellent tips articles instead of this. Like, make it a daily thing focusing on a specific area of the OS or apps with a specific theme each day. macOS Mondays, Terminal Tuesdays, Third-party Thursdays, File Management Fridays, Shortcut Sundays.

 

[JosephAW]

What percentage of MR users just went into settings and searched for that to see what happens?

 

[shadowboi]

Lol works on 16. What a fun prank idea🤣 I thought my iPhone got hacked for a sec, but it is just a respring. Nice

 

[BigGongZillaSkrillex]

This reminds me of the effective power bug from iOS 8.3.

iOS and not being able to parse Unicode special characters properly... name a more iconic duo.

I wonder myself, if you hate Apple this much that you always comment on each post too negatively, why are you still purchasing their products?

 

[gegy]

Ios 17.6.1 Only crashing the settings app on my 12 Mini. Freezing the springboard does not work.

 

[JosephAW]

Let me try it on Sonoma

 

[antiprotest]

I like the cute bug image.

 

[Qubelek]

Who they hire to work on iOS development… students? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️