iPhone crash alert — don't search for this four-character code

Apple has a weird crash bug on its hand that's affecting iPhone owners. When you type a specific string of characters into your device's search bar, your phone will behave unexpectedly. The iPhone interface, Springboard, will crash for a bit before returning and working again when the text string is used.

Posted by Konstantin on the social media website Mastodon , the bug can be launched by typing two sets of quotation marks and two colons (""::).

You can also type some other strings of text to cause the crash — as long as it has a quotation mark in the first slot of the text string and a colon in the third. For example, you could type A":B to cause the UI to crash.

In total, you (or someone who gets ahold of your phone) can type the text string to cause the crash in three places. Any OS-level search bars will cause the problem — the App Library search, Settings search or the Spotlight Search screen all work.

Fortunately, this issue seems to resolve itself quickly, and your phone returns to normal in a few seconds. More importantly, security researcher Ryan Shortz told TechCrunch that the crash doesn't open further vulnerabilities that would let malicious individuals into your phone.

The crash will impact various versions of iOS differently. With iOS 17 , the characters will cause Springboard to crash and soft reboot after a few moments. For those on iOS 18 and iOS 18.1 betas, typing the text will lead to a quick Spotlight Search freeze that doesn't prompt a total crash.

Whether you're in iOS 17 or iOS 18, you should avoid typing the character string into your phone's search bar just to be safe. While most people report that it just leads to a quick soft reboot, we can't guarantee messing with a bug like this won't cause more significant problems for your device.

Apple hasn't commented on the crashing issue yet, but we will update this piece if the company says anything.

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