Apple has recently released the iOS 11.2.5, in hopes that the update will fix the latest system issues and improve the iOS devices' performance. Unfortunately, the latest minor update may have brought more harm than good, as several users have been complaining about their devices crashing, as well as most of the apps becoming inaccessible.
As reported by Forbes, the Cupertino-based tech firm confirmed a major bug in the iOS 11.2.5 update, in which the important apps such as Messages, WhatsApp, Gmail, Outlook for iOS, and Facebook Messenger cannot be opened. It appears that the culprit of this issue is a particular Indian language or Telugu character, which is being sent to several iOS devices following the iOS 11.2.5 update. This character is being withheld from public knowledge as some mischievous people might take this as an opportunity to mess with other people.
Once the faulty character is received, the apps will crash right away. The worse part of the problem is that the apps will no longer be functional even after having them refreshed, or rebooting the device itself. This is because the apps are trying to load the said character, but then ultimately fails because it unrecognizable. The Italian blog site Mobile World is the first to detect the bad character that has already brought inconvenience to a lot of users as of today.
The Verge reported that some apps such as Skype and Telegram are unaffected by the iOS 11.2.5 bug. The beta version of the iOS 11.3 has yet to encounter the issue as well. However, Apple is determined to fix this problem before the public version of the iOS 11.3 goes live this Spring. In a statement sent by an Apple representative to The Verge, the company promised to solve the issue with the next minor update, the iOS 11.2.6.
The succeeding iOS 11 updates have been problematic, and aside from the current bug, some iPhone X users are complaining about dropped phone calls. Previously, a mysterious bug caused several iPhone and iPad devices to crash back in December last year.
