For smartphone users, encountering a phone crash is likely their worst fear—something they strive to avoid at all costs. Imagine discovering that merely typing a few characters on your device could lead to a crash. A recent software flaw has emerged that can cause iPhones and iPads to crash, primarily affecting those who experiment with it on their own devices.
Web security researcher Konstantin identified that typing the characters “”:: (two double quotation marks and two colons) in three specific places on an iPhone triggers a crash in Springboard, the application that manages the home screen. If you navigate past all home screen pages and type these four characters in the search function, your iPhone will reboot to the Lock Screen. Similarly, entering these characters in the search bars of the Settings page and App Library will also result in the same issue.
Some social media users reported that just the first three characters were enough to trigger the problem. Occasionally, the device briefly displays a black screen before reloading when the bug is activated. Although it seems harmless, it is advisable to avoid intentionally triggering crashes on your valuable devices.
This issue is likely related to a software bug or glitch in the operating system. Historically, certain character strings, particularly those from non-Latin alphabets, have caused unexpected behavior or crashes due to system handling. Researchers have informed TechCrunch that this bug does not appear to pose any security risks.
Since this issue has been identified, Apple is expected to release a software update to address the bug promptly. Until then, users should be cautious about what they type or avoid using specific characters or sequences known to cause the problem. Multiple reports suggest that the issue will be resolved and the flaw fixed in the latest iOS update, 17.6.2.
