A malicious SMS that can cause iPhone handsets to freeze and reboot has been causing problems for Apple users across the borough.
The bug, which has been discovered in Apple’s iOS, can cause an iPhone to crash when it receives a single text message containing a certain string of characters.
It appears to be caused by a glitch in the way Apple’s iOS software displays non-Latin text in notification banners and alerts.
When messages are previewed in banners, iOS adds an ellipsis to show there is more of the message to be viewed.
But if the ellipsis is placed in the middle of a set of non-Latin characters, for example Arabic or Chinese, the system crashes and causes the phone to reboot.
The text message content which causes the crash is being shared on social media, with people complaining of being repeatedly sent the message by mischievous friends.
The message contains the word ‘Power’ as well as Arabic and Marathi characters and the Chinese character meaning ‘redundant’.
It’s only effective in crashing Messages and rebooting an iPhone if sent from another Apple handset running iOS.
Paul Campbell, of Netherfield, contacted Gedling Eye after his phone was affected by the bug earlier today.
He said: As soon as I received the message then my phone rebooted. I’ve no idea where it came from. I asked friends after I read about it online, but they say they hadn’t targeted me.”
Anthony Walsh, from Bestwood, said: “It caused my phone to freeze. It’s a nuisance. I hope Apple fix this so it doesn’t happen again.”
Trish Slater, from Carlton, said: “I’ve seen how to do this on Twitter. It’s quite a worry really as I use my phone a lot and hope I am not targeted.”