‘Text bomb’ fault plagues iPhone users

A new security flaw, described as a “text bomb”, has been discovered on Apple’s latest devices. The bug typically causes Apple devices to crash and restart.

The fault is caused by a link to a toxic piece of code that, when sent in a text message, forces iPhones and iPads to shut down, Sky News reports.

Users only have to open the text message for the “text bomb” to take effect, the news site says, even if they don’t click the link.

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The security flaw was discovered by software developer Abraham Masri, who informed Apple of the bug before releasing details of it on Twitter.

BBC News says the bug isn’t exclusive to Apple’s portable devices that run on iOS software. It can also cause the Safari internet search tool on the company’s Mac laptops and desktops to crash.

Apple has yet to release a fix for the bug, but it's likely that the company is aware of the issue, according to The Sun.

So how serious is the bug? In a recent blog post, security expert Graham Cluley says the “pretty funky-looking code” doesn’t pose much harm to devices.

He says the fault is “more of a nuisance than something that will lead to data being stolen from your computer or a malicious hacker being able to access your files.”

Apple is no stranger to software bugs.

In 2016, iPhone and iPad users found that setting their smartphone’s date to 1 January 1970 would permanently shut their devices off, says Mac World.

Users were required to contact Apple directly for a fix, the website says, making this particular bug more severe than the recent “text bomb” code.