A bug discovered in Apple's Messages app can paralyze your iPhone or iPad with just a simple black dot. Hidden next to the black dot emoji is a string of thousands of invisible Unicode characters. Every time you try to open the message, it floods your phone's CPU, causing the iMessage app to crash repeatedly. Force-quitting the Messages app or restarting your phone won't help, either, as it will just continue to load the malicious text.
And because it affects Apple's iOS software, it may impact a number of devices, including the iPhone, iPad and possibly even the Apple Watch or Apple TV, according to9to5Mac. In a demo video, EverythingApplePro demonstrated how the bug, which he refers to as a 'prank', works in real time. Users have reported receiving texts with a mysterious black dot that causes their Messages app to crash.
The sender follows a series of instructions that send two pre-loaded messages, one containing the unicode characters, to another user's phone. EverythingApplePro noted that the older the recipient's phone is, the worse the bug will be. When a user tries to read the malicious text, their phone will be paralyzed with just a white screen. The phone is trying to load hundreds of thousands of characters the recipient can't see, which causes your device's CPU to quickly get clogged. The CPU actually goes to 100%, so your phone gets really hot,' EverythingApplePro says in the video.
If you didn't know what was going on, you'd definitely think the Messages app was broken permanently'. Mail Online has reached out to Apple for comment. Luckily, there is a solution if you get hit with the text bug that involves a few simple steps. First, you need to force close the iMessage app, then navigate to your device's home screen.
Force-quitting the Messages app or restarting your phone won't help, either, as it will just continue to load the malicious text. HOW DO YOU REMOVE THE BLACK DOT 'TEXT BOMB' THAT CRIPPLES IPHONES AND IPADS, Users are reportedly getting hit with a mysterious black dot bug that renders your iMessage app virtually useless.
It's not the black dot at fault, but a series of invisible Unicode text accompanying the dot that floods your phone's CPU and freezes the device. You can't just force-quit the iMessage app or restart your device to rid your phone of the bug. First, you need to force close the iMessage app, then navigate to your device's home screen.
From there, 3D Touch the iMessage app and select 'New Message'. You can then cancel the new message, which will take you back to your list of iMessage conversations. Then, just hit the Edit button and delete the message with the bug. If you don't have 3D Touch, the steps are slightly different. Start by force-quitting iMessage, then open up Siri and ask it to send a reply to whoever sent you the malicious message. Continue to send replies via Siri until the bug is off the screen in your iMessage conversation.
Then, open iMessage and return to the conversation list, where you can manually remove the thread. From there, 3D Touch the iMessage app and select 'New Message'. You can then cancel the new message, which will take you back to your list of iMessage conversations. Then, just hit the Edit button and delete the message with the bug.
If you don't have 3D Touch, the steps are slightly different. Start by force-quitting iMessage, then open up Siri and ask it to send a reply to whoever sent you the malicious message. Continue to send replies via Siri until the bug is off the screen in your iMessage conversation. Then, open iMessage and return to the conversation list, where you can manually remove the thread.
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