An iMessage bug has been discovered in iOS causing the messages app to freeze and respring, affecting the performance of the phone in the process.
The issue only occurs when iPhone users are sent a GitHub link but even if you do not click it and just preview the message, the bug takes over.
The bug – named ChaiOS – seems to be causing issues for iOS from 10.0 and above.
TrustedReviews suggests if users have received the link, quit the Messages app, delete the entire conversation thread using either the iPhone, iMac or MacBook.
Twitter user Abraham Masri discovered the issue while “fuzzing with the operating system” and posted the link to get Apple’s attention. He has mentioned on other tweets he normally reports bugs.
Effective Power is back, baby!
chaiOS bug:
Text the link below, it will freeze the recipient’s device, and possibly restart it. https://t.co/Ln93XN51Kq⚠️ Do not use it for bad stuff.
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thanks to @aaronp613 @garnerlogan65 @lepidusdev @brensalsa for testing!— Abraham Masri (@cheesecakeufo) January 16, 2018
Another Twitter user Eric Ramirez has replied to the above tweet with what seems to be a solution on how to protect your phone from the bug.