New iphone Bug in ‘Messages’ App Freezes Device with a Single Link.
You don’t even have to click on the link that was sent to you!
The bug was discovered in iOS by a software developer. He coined the bug “chaiOS” and with the amount of iPhone users out there, it might actually create a chaotic response. ChaiOS exploits this particular app since it preloads any links to webpages so it can show the user a preview of the site before clicking on it.
But what if the site is glitchy? Or even better, what if the site was designed to overload a small chip once opened?
This is precisely what the software developer tested. He created a test site and filled its metadata with hundreds of thousands of unnecessary characters. Once you simply send the link of the website to somebody with an iPhone and that person opens the app, it will possibly freeze or restart your device while trying to load all of the unexpected information. The sad thing is, this isn't the first time 'Messages' App has crashed due to a strange texting problem. And again, you don’t even have to open the link, since the app preloads the site for you. Seems a little silly for an app to preload websites when we all know how many malicious ones are out there. But… iPhone does it!
“ChaiOS was successfully tested on the iPhone X and iPhone 5S, and says it only affects versions of iOS from 10.0 to 11.2.5 beta 5. The bug can also crash Messages on macOS.”
The response could either crash the app, cause lag, freeze the device, or trigger a “respring” which is when the operating system reboots the software called ‘SpringBoard’ and kicks the user back to the lock screen.
The software developer who discovered this problem said he isn’t going to re-upload the bug, he just wanted to get Apple’s attention to provide a fix for it. His initial upload was also reported as a test simply as a preventative measure and to offer insight, however, that didn’t stop GitHub (a hosting service for source code management) from unnecessarily banning this individuals account.
If you HAVE been affected by this bug, there are a few ways you can try to fix it:
Block the domain of the site hosting it – If the link came from GitHub, go to safari settings, then General>Restrictions>Enable restrictions>Websites>Limit Adult Content>Never Allow>GitHub.io
Delete the thread the link was sent in – If you can delete the entire thread of your conversation before the app crashes, this could possibly fix the problem.
Reset your iPhone to factory settings – Who wants to take the time to backup your entire device, make sure all of your information is saved elsewhere as an additional measure, reset your device, and then reinstall/import/re-download/transfer all data back to your phone??? You should just…
Wait for a patch – Although Apple is taking its sweet time to give any updates or even comment on the original issue…
It may be more likely they will come out with another iPhone before a working patch is implemented. 'iPhoneXtreme' perhaps? There will be a special edition version that is studded with diamonds.
