iOS Text String Bug: A Few Characters Can Crash iPhone

Mysterious codes that can cause system crashes frequently appear in the iOS system. Typically, these enigmatic codes do not pose security concerns, as attackers cannot remotely input these codes on a user’s iPhone.

The latest mysterious code is “”::. If a user attempts to enter these four characters in the iPhone’s Spotlight search or App Library, it triggers a soft reboot of iOS. Upon input, the screen immediately turns black with a spinning progress indicator, after which iOS returns to normal. Testing so far has not revealed that this issue could lead to a hard reboot, which usually takes several minutes, whereas a soft reboot only takes a few seconds to recover.

The researcher who discovered the issue, @Konstantin, stated that there is currently no evidence to suggest that anyone other than the iPhone owner could cause a reboot by entering these characters, meaning the issue can only be triggered by the user. Sending these characters via messages or other apps does not result in a reboot, so this is not considered a security issue.

Tests have shown that this problem exists at least in iOS 17 and iOS 18. For example, entering these four characters in the latest version of iOS 17’s Spotlight search causes the iPhone’s home screen to black out and trigger a soft reboot. In iOS 18 and iOS 18.1, it may cause a brief freeze in the Spotlight search, but not a complete blackout.

Although this issue does not constitute a security threat, pranksters may exploit it for jokes. Therefore, it is advisable to exercise caution when encountering requests to input specific characters, as they often lead to traps.

Finally, Apple is likely to fix this bug in upcoming versions. Similar issues have occurred in the past, and Apple has always addressed them in subsequent updates.

Via: 9to5mac

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