Indian Telugu Character Wreaking Havoc on iPhones, iPads, and Macs

Apple had already witnessed some of the worst days of software issues just before the end of 2017, and it looks like 2018 also isn’t starting so well either. Even after providing the best updates on all the devices, Apple always is still facing blemishes.

Recently, a new glitch has been found in iOS 11 that lets people send a specific character that crashes iPhones, iPads, and Macs, and block access to the Messaging apps.

Apple is scrambling to fix this “text bomb” that is crashing many of its devices. The nasty bug affects when a single character from Telugu - a language native to India - is received by some devices via text message or typed into a text editor. Once the message is received, it freezes every single messaging app. The only way to de-freeze the lagged apps and regain access is to have someone send a message and try to delete the thread that contained the noxious character.

iOS is not the only OS affected; the glitch can also be reproduced on macOS High Sierra (version 10.13), along with the new versions of tvOS and WatchOS. But, there is good news too. This Telugu symbol doesn't trigger any error when displayed over an internet browser unless someone tries to paste it into a text field.

Also, Telegram and Skype are not affected by this notorious bug. The public beta version of iOS 11.3 is also unaffected. Fortunately, Apple was made aware of the problem three days ago and Apple quickly issued a fix for the bug.