New iPhone bug blocks users from chat apps

Apple’s latest iPhone software iOS has been plagued with bugs since its launch last October. Now a new glitch has been discovered that locks users out of certain chat apps.

The bug affects iPhone owners who are sent a specific character from the south Indian language Telugu, which blocks access to popular apps such as Messages and WhatsApp, The Verge reports.

The only known way round the fault is to ask a friend to send you a text message, the website says, allowing you to “delete the thread that contained the bad character.”

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The bug isn’t exclusive to iPhones, says Alphr, as it can also cause desktop computers to continuously reboot. The problem also affects devices such as Apple TV, iPads and Apple Watches.

While you can avoid these symbols and wait for Apple to fix the bug, TechCrunch says there are a number of “ill-intentioned” people who are deliberately sending the bugged character to unsuspecting iPhone owners.

Some mean-spirited Twitter users have asked people to retweet a post featuring the Telugu symbol to catch out those with Apple devices, the tech site says. Thankfully, most of the pranksters “don’t have many followers.”

According to Alphr, Apple has already found a fix and is currently in the process of beta testing a software update to rectify the bug. The tech giant plans to issue the fix “as soon as possible”.

Until then, iPhone users are advised to be careful when receiving messages from unknown sources, the website says.