Apple has rolled out updates across its major platforms after a bug pertaining to an Indian language character caused multiple apps and iPhones themselves to crash beyond easy redemption.
The offending character within the Telugu language (which has 75m native speakers) had been causing problems in communications apps like Messages, Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
However, in more serious cases, if the character appears within an iOS notification it could send the device into a rebooting loop, which then requires iPhones to be restored in order to remedy.
The issue was first reported by the Italian site Mobile World, which demonstrated the flaw here:
The bug reportedly affected iPhones, iPads, Macs and the Apple Watch, hence the firm’s blanket release of software updates on Monday.
Apple promised a fix before the arrival of iOS 10.3 and it’s here today in the form of iOS 10.2.6. The other new releases containing the bug swatter are macOS 10.13.3 Supplemental Update, tvOS 11.2.6, and watchOS 4.2.3.
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The Telugu flaw, which was being maliciously shared to people for no reason other than people on the internet tend to suck sometimes, is just the latest instance of similar bugs affecting iOS.
Last month a link shared through iMessage was causing iPhones to freeze.
The so-called ChaiOS bug exploited the pre-loading of web-links through iOS in order to overwhelm the app. Apple fixed this in the last iOS update.
Have you experienced any issues as a result of the Telugu bug? Share your experiences with iOS on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.