Software:Killer symbol

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Short description: Character which triggers software errors


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

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

The default typeface used on Apple products, San Francisco, fails to render certain symbols and instead leads to errors.[8]

Related issues

In 2020, an issue with discovered in Android where using a certain image as a wallpaper crashes the device.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Gibbs, Samuel (2017-01-18). "Prank crashes iPhones with rainbow emoji messages" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/18/prank-crashes-iphones-with-boobytrapped-rainbow-emoji-messages. 
  2. ↑ "rdar://37458268: iOS and Mac OS System can't render symbol and has crashed". http://www.openradar.me/37458268. 
  3. ↑ "If you receive this message on your iPhone, delete it immediately" (in en-GB). The Independent. 2018-02-15. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/apple-iphone-crash-glitch-indian-symbol-telugu-ios-devices-a8213201.html. 
  4. ↑ Hatmaker, Taylor (2018-02-16). "People are trolling iPhone users with the 'killer symbol' that crashes their apps" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/16/iphone-bug-telugu-unicode-ios-mac-text-bomb/. 
  5. ↑ "Apple to Fix Telugu Character Bug Causing Devices to Crash in Minor iOS Update" (in en). https://www.macrumors.com/2018/02/15/apple-telugu-bug-fix-minor-ios-update/. 
  6. ↑ "Black dot bug hits iPhone: How to fix if this emoji breaks your iMessages" (in en). https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/iphone-imessages-black-dot-emoji-bug-how-to/. 
  7. ↑ Warren, Tom (2020-04-24). "A new iOS text bug is again crashing iPhones" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/24/21234191/apple-iphone-crash-text-bug-ios-13-problem. 
  8. ↑ "This Indian Character Symbol Can Crash Your iPhone" (in en). https://www.pcmag.com/news/this-indian-character-symbol-can-crash-your-iphone. 
  9. ↑ Porter, Jon (2020-06-01). "Users discover wallpaper that can crash some Android phones" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/1/21276658/android-phone-wallpaper-bug-crash-rgb-srgb-samsung-pixel. 



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