Iphone restarts and imessage crashes after receiving that "special" text message

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Level 1

8 points

Iphone restarts and imessage crashes after receiving that "special" text message

How can a simple text message restart my iphone? and crash my imessage app? I got my friend to send the text message to me thinking is was just a bunch of BS but my phone actually restarted. I got the apple logo come up and then it went back to my lock screen. It was a very quick restart though, a lot quicker then when I normally restart my iphone. I am a bit concerned as to how a text message can do this. I just came from an Android phone this is my first iPhone ( I have the iphone 6) I've never had anything like this happen with my andriod. Now its a big joke at my school, all the andriod kids are sending these messages to everyone with an iphone causing their iphone to restart. Not looking too good on you apple. I didn't spend 900$ on a piece of technology that's so easy to hack like that. I always thought apple devices were pretty much virus, junk, etc free.

iPhone 6, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 27, 2015 6:23 AM

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Answer 1

thunderzzz

Level 6

8,452 points

May 27, 2015 6:24 AM in response to Mickaelaj902

It is a new vulnerability discovered in iOS. Take a look at this article, at the very end there're several solutions to this problem: http://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/26/ios-bug-crashing-iphones-with-text-message/ Apple is aware of the bug and working on a fix.

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Answer 2

Mickaelaj902 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 27, 2015 6:26 AM in response to thunderzzz

How can that even happen though? How can a text message restart your phone like that?😁

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Answer 3

thunderzzz

Level 6

8,452 points

May 27, 2015 6:35 AM in response to Mickaelaj902

Sometimes bugs happen. Hopefully Apple will solve it soon.

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Answer 4

May 27, 2015 3:58 PM in response to Mickaelaj902

Got this from another thread....worked like a charm

.

the Solution 2 step:

1-put your iPhone date two month forward

2-go to settings > Messages >(under Message History, select keep messages 30 day)

NB: this will fix the problem but will delete all your messages inbox.

....

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Answer 5

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

May 30, 2015 7:34 AM in response to Mickaelaj902

Hi Mickaelaj902,

Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.

It sounds like your iPhone is restarting unexpectedly after receiving a specific set of characters. I know it can be frustrating to see an unexpected issue on a new device. You can find some helpful information about this situation on the Support site:

If Messages quits unexpectedly after you get a text with a specific string of characters - Apple Support

Apple is aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update. Until the update is available, you can use these steps to re-open the Messages app.

Ask Siri to "read unread messages."

Use Siri to reply to the malicious message. After you reply, you'll be able to open Messages again.

If the issue continues, tap and hold the malicious message, tap More, and delete the message from the thread.

Best Regards,

Jeremy

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Answer 6

Jun 23, 2015 1:11 AM in response to jeremy_v

Some people find that this doesn't work. The following one does though:

http://youtu.be/dp6qgoYXllI

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