Telugu character bug returns to haunt iPhones, Macs

A Telugu unicode character is the latest bug that causes apps on iOS and MacOS to crash when rendering the character.

It has been barely three days since a Telugu unicode character wreaked havoc by crashing iMessage, WhatsApp and other messenger apps on iPhones. And now, another of the same class of bug has hit Twitter.

iPhone owners are reporting that their Twitter app is crashing randomly for no apparent reason. Tech-savvy users discovered that mischief-mongers had added the Telugu (South Indian language) character onto their screen-name on Twitter and started liking random Twitter handles. When the iPhone Twitter app user received a 'like' notification on the screen, he/she would likely open the tweet, which would lead to the crash.

iOS 11 has reportedly been the buggiest and most unstable iOS version Apple has ever rolled out. Over the course of the last few months, a multitude of bugs and issues have plagued the platform ranging from excessive battery draining to the now infamous battery slowdown scandal.

The latest controversy is being caused by an innocent Telugu character that reads as 'gya' or 'gna/gnya. The bug not only affects iMessage as was previously reported, but also affects any third-party apps which use text fields like Twitter, Gmail and Facebook Messenger. As soon as this 'rogue' character is received or sent, the app in question crashes and reboots.

In fact, some mischief makers are sending direct messages with these characters and subjects like "retweet this to crash anyone using an Apple device" and "read this to log off instantly".

As of now, there is no official solution from Apple regarding this issue. Apple claims that a fix will come out before the major iOS 11.03 update, which is expected to bring new Animojis, a battery health feature and FaceID for family account purchases and more.

As of now there are a few short-term solutions, which involve uninstalling the affected app and re-installing it or opening your Twitter account in a non-Apple device (such as an Android smartphone or a Windows machine) and blocking the account which is causing the damage.

This is not the first time iPhone users are facing such an issue. In 2016, a 3-second video clip with a malicious URL link affected iPhones and iPads.

In 2015 too, a malicious SMS containing the word 'Power', with a string of unicodes in Chinese, Marathi and Arabic characters was being sent to unsuspecting iPhone users. After opening the text via iMessage app, the Apple would cease to function and restart. Even Apple Watches, when connected with iPhones, were vulnerable to that bug.