How To Fix iOS Text Message Bug Cause iPhone, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch Crash or Reboot

Messages in iOS 8 comes with lots of new features such as able to add voice to the conversation, share video, group conversation, and more. However, recently Apple iOS mobile operating system receive bug that cause crash the iPhones causes by Messages app when received a boobytrapped text message. When the text message is received, the system attempts to abbreviate the text with an ellipsis. If the ellipsis is placed in the middle of a set of non-Latin script characters including Arabic, Marathi and Chinese, it instantly crashes the iPhone and causes it to reboot. The bug also affects the iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch which cause it crash when attempting to reply to the offending message via voice using Siri.

Apple has also issued a statement on the matter: “We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update.”

Although Apple not yet issue the official fix, likely in the form of iOS 8.4, but the bug able to fix through few possible fixes, here how to fix the iOS text message bug cause iPhone, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch crash.

Method 1:         

Turn off notifications for Messages app to prevent crashes from Lock Screen. To do this, navigate to Settings > Notifications > Messages > Show on Lock Screen > Off.

Method 2:

Send a message to yourself. There have 2 options – send via Siri or share sheet.

To send a message via Siri. Just press and hold the Home button to launch Siri. Tell Siri to “Send a message”, Siri will open up a dialogue where you can give her a quick message and send to your iPhone to clear away the malicious message.

To send yourself a message through the Share sheet. Send yourself a Notes or Photo using Share. Launch app and select a note or photo, and then tap on Share -> Messages. Now enter the phone number or iMessage ID to send it to yourself.

Method 3:

Block the repeat offenders.

If someone keeps sending you bug message repeated, you can simply block the sender. Just head to Contacts app and open the sender contact, tap ‘Block this Caller’ to block the contact.

Method 4:

There is also alternately method for jailbroken, just download this .deb file and install it using iFile on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Once install, it can simply fix the bug. Note: This jailbreak-specific fix only works on devices running iOS 8.x.

Futhermore, for Apple Watch users, you also can turn off notifications for Messages app on Apple Watch app to prevent crashes. Just simple navigate to Apple Watch app > Notifications > Messages > Custom > Show Alerts > Off.

However, all above method are not official fix from Apple. If you have found any other method to temporarily fix the issue, share with us in the comments below.