iOS 18 was released on iPhones, but you should be careful when exchanging watch faces with your friends. GSMarena reported that users of Apple Watches can send their watch’s home screen ready to another via message. This feature has been around for years, but since iOS 18 arrived, if someone sends a watch face to another iPhone owner, the Messages app crashes.
The crash happens because the recipient tries to reply to the sender of the watch face. If they don’t respond to the message, everything goes smoothly, but if they reply with any message, the app crashes completely. The crash happens not only to the recipient but also to the sender of the watch face. One possible solution is to delete the entire conversation.
Logically, a software update is expected to resolve the specific issue, but it is unknown when. So, until then, it would be good to be careful and not reply to a message if someone else sends you a watch face.
Don’t type these characters, or your iPhone will crash – The new dangerous bug
A security researcher has warned about another bug that caused crashes in Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. So far, the only way to trigger the bug is to type these characters into your device manually.
Do it at your own risk: Go to the Library App on your iPhone. Then type “”:: (two double quotes and two double colons) wrote security researcher Konstantin (@kwpn) on the social network Mastodon.
Unicode characters are an international character encoding standard that assigns a unique number to each character in all languages and writing systems. So typing these four Unicode characters: “”:: causes the devices to crash and reset to the lock screen.
Sometimes, the screen flashes and goes black before the lock screen appears. This is because typing the characters triggers a bug in the latest version of iOS 17 and the beta version of iOS 18 that affects how the software interprets the sequence of punctuation marks.
Experts told TechCrunch that it’s doubtful that a third party could cause this bug, so it’s probably not a security risk.
“It’s not a security bug,” said Ryan Stortz, an iOS security researcher who analyzed the bug, while Patrick Wardle, another iOS security researcher, agreed. It also doesn’t cause any damage to devices since the software misinterprets these characters and causes them to crash.
There are rumors that Apple is already preparing a minor update even before the release of iOS 18. The update, iOS 17.6.2, will likely provide bug fixes, security patches, and improvements for users. IOS 17.6.2 may fix this new bug as well.
This isn’t the first time a specific combination of characters has caused errors on Apple devices. So-called “text bombs” – malicious messages containing characters that can affect the operation of an application or device – have plagued many iPhone users for several years.
Another severe warning regarding iPhone battery. The following settings can “ruin” their battery – What the experts say
Maintaining your iPhone battery is critical to keeping your phone in good shape. In addition to avoiding exposure to extreme temperatures and using charging accessories compatible with your device, you can maximize your battery life by focusing on your device settings since some settings affect battery life more than others.
The following settings may reduce your iPhone’s battery life.
Dynamic backgrounds
Dynamic or animated backgrounds are impressive but consume a lot of energy. Choose a static image to save power.
Screen Timeout
Your battery will suffer if your screen stays on for long periods at full brightness. To save power, set the screen sleep time to a shorter time.
Screen brightness
The brighter your phone’s screen, the more battery power it uses. To save energy, set the screen brightness as low as possible.
Location Services
Applications that use location services, such as GPS, consume a lot of power. Set this feature to turn on only when using the app, not always.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
You don’t need to have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on all the time. When these features are active and you are not using them, your phone constantly searches for connections. Turn them off when you don’t need them.
Automatic mail download (Push Mail)
Automatic mail download updates your phone whenever new messages arrive in your inbox. If you’re expecting an essential message, that’s understandable. In all other cases, this setting consumes a battery. Consider checking your emails manually to avoid unnecessary consumption.
