Weird iMessage bug can brick iPhone: Here's how to fix
What's the story
Despite being pretty impressive, Apple's software products also witness the problem of bugs and vulnerabilities. Just a few months back, FaceTime was marred by a privacy-breaching bug, and now, a Google researcher has brought another critical vulnerability into the light. The issue ties with the iMessage and can easily render your iPhone useless. Here's all about it.
Bug
iMessage texts can brick your iPhone
Google's Project Zero researcher Natalie Silvanovich found the issue in April but disclosed it earlier last week. The bug triggers when a certain set of characters is received via iMessage. It instantly affects iOS Springboard, which prevents the UI from being displayed and keeps the phone from responding. Simply put, a single text bomb can brick your phone, rendering it completely useless.
Solution
Only restoring the device would help
The condition created by the iMessage vulnerability "survives a hard reset and causes the phone to be unusable as soon as it is unlocked," Silvanovich explained. This means, if the iPhone is compromised by this bug, the only solution would be to reboot the phone into recovery and restore it. In that case, you'll lose all the data that has not been backed up.
Fix
Apple has patched the vulnerability
Silvanovich took months to disclose this vulnerability in order to ensure that Apple gets enough leeway to patch the bug. And, going by reports, that has already happened; Apple released a fix for this issue with iOS 12.3 update in May. So, if you have kept automatic update setting enabled on your iOS device, chances are you are shielded from the bug.
Recommendations
Older iOS users should update right away
Having said that, you should definitely check the iOS version you are running via Settings > General > Software update. If it is older than iOS 12.3, immediately turn the automatic update setting on and get the latest iteration. This could be anything, the most recent stable iOS update or the recent iOS 13 public beta launched by Apple.