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New iPhone Warning – If you type this, your device will crash

A security researcher has issued a new iPhone warning after finding a bug that causes Apple devices to crash. All you have to do is type the four characters ““:: into your iPhone or iPad, according to TechCrunchwho first reported the error.

“Apparently you can be [Apple mobile user interface] “The iPhone Springboard is pretty easy to open,” wrote security researcher Konstantin on the social networking site Mastodon.

“On your iPhone, swipe left past any side of your home screen to get to the App Library, then search for '::',” he added. “Do this at your own risk.”

When the error is triggered, your iPhone's Springboard will crash and then reload the lock screen. In some cases, the screen will flash black first.

The bug causes iPhones to crash when the characters are entered into the search bar in the Settings app, as well as when you swipe all the way to the right on your home screen and enter the characters into the app library's search bar.

Upon closer inspection, iPhone users discovered that the bug could be triggered by someone typing three characters ““: followed by any other character.

Apple has been contacted for comment and I will update this article if the company responds.

The only way to trigger the bug is from the device itself – the user has to manually enter the characters into their iPhone to trigger the crash. That said, it's not a security risk, but rather annoying if you accidentally enter the particular string of characters.

With that in mind, there's not much you can do except be very careful about what you type into your iPhone and wait for Apple to issue a fix. And it looks like another iPhone update is coming out before iOS 18 is released next month that could fix this bug, among other issues and security flaws.

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