A new video bug that crashes iPhones when you play the link is circulating online. Find out what the prank does, how to fix your device if you've been its victim.
A link to a 5-second video that crashes an iPhone has surfaced online. The poisoned video, which was first reported by Redditor ridddle on the Apple subreddit has not been posted in full, but according to the Redditor, users should avoid any video links sent to them that contain the domains, vk·com and testtrial·site90·net. Meanwhile, other users report the video doesn’t even have to be delivered as a link.
“ I received it on Whatsapp and it crashed my iPhone. It doesn't have to be a URL,” said Redditor, Varoeldurr.
So how does the iPhone-crashing video work? It appears users need only click on a link to or watch a short 5-second video on their device to to activate the bug. Right after the video finishes playing, the user won’t notice anything different, but a few seconds later the story is different. The device will seem to run slow and glitchy until it finally crashes. This happens because the corrupted video actually creates a programming loop that leads to a crash roughly 10 seconds after watching it. It is unclear which devices are vulnerable to the bug, but it does appear to affect all devices running iOS 10 and above.
To get your device working properly after the crash is fairly simple. Users need only to hold the power button and home button at the same time, which performs a hard reset on the device. After it restarts, everything returns to normal.
While iPhone and Safari crashing link pranks are nothing new (we had an ugly string of them in the last couple years), they are nonetheless an annoyance when you become the victim.
Apple has yet to respond to reports of the bug. For now, and in most cases, it is advisable to exercise extreme caution when opening any links sent to you by friends or otherwise.
WATCH: This Video Will CRASH ANY iPhone! (YouTube)
Have you been a victim of the new iPhone crashing video? Did your device return to normal after hard reset? Share with us in the comments below.
