A rather niche bug has been discovered in iOS that can crash your device if you type a particular set of characters into a search bar.
Specifically, a string of two quote marks and a colon (“”:) followed by any fourth character seems to confuse iPhones and iPads when typed into the search bar in various parts of the operating system. We’ve confirmed it to crash the Settings app when typed into Settings search, and many users are reporting it crashes your entire device if typed into the App Library search bar. It doesn’t look as though these crashes are severe enough to put your data at risk or brick your iPhone, they’re more of an inconvenience that might require a reboot.
That said, my testing with the latest iOS 18 beta showed mixed results: Settings will indeed crash, but the App Library seems safe. That implies that a fix may already be half-baked in upcoming iOS releases.
Either way, the “fix” is simple: just don’t type those characters! Or type them into your friend’s iPhone to freak them out.
Though an issue this obscure isn’t likely to be a security concern, it is reminiscent of similar bugs that have allowed bad actors to remotely crash an iPhone with a string of characters sent via text message. Hopefully this particular bug isn’t part of a wider issue that could cause more problems for Apple and its user base.