Killer symbol
A killer symbol is a computer character that triggers software errors. Examples of killer symbols have caused the iOS operating system (the default operating system on iPhones) to experience a system crash when a specific Unicode character is displayed.
Incidents[edit]
In 2017, an issue with a rainbow flag emoticon caused devices to crash.[1]
On February 12, 2018 a bug in the iOS operating system was reported that caused iOS devices to crash if a particular Telugu character was displayed.[2][3][4] The character is a combination of the characters "జ", "్", "ఞ", "ా" and The Zero-Width Non-Joiner character which looks combined like this "జ్ఞా". Apple confirmed a fix for iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4.[5]
In the same year, an iMessage bug appeared where a text with a black dot emoticon overloaded the device.[6]
In 2020, multiple characters from Sindhi languages caused issues.[7]
Causes[edit]
The default typeface used on Apple products, San Francisco, fails to render certain symbols and instead leads to errors.[8]
Related issues[edit]
In 2020, an issue with discovered in Android where using a certain image as a wallpaper crashes the device.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ Gibbs, Samuel (2017-01-18). "Prank crashes iPhones with rainbow emoji messages". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ "rdar://37458268: iOS and Mac OS System can't render symbol and has crashed". www.openradar.me. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "If you receive this message on your iPhone, delete it immediately". The Independent. 2018-02-15. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2018-02-16. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hatmaker, Taylor (2018-02-16). "People are trolling iPhone users with the 'killer symbol' that crashes their apps". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ "Apple to Fix Telugu Character Bug Causing Devices to Crash in Minor iOS Update". Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "Black dot bug hits iPhone: How to fix if this emoji breaks your iMessages". CNET. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ Warren, Tom (2020-04-24). "A new iOS text bug is again crashing iPhones". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ "This Indian Character Symbol Can Crash Your iPhone". PCMAG. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ Porter, Jon (2020-06-01). "Users discover wallpaper that can crash some Android phones". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
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