PSA: This link will crash Messages on iOS and macOS, cause resprings & more

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>
> Subject: PSA: This link will crash Messages on iOS and macOS, cause resprings & more
> Date: January 16, 2018 at 8:15:14 PM EST
> To: E-mail Pamphleteer Dave Farber's Interesting People list <ip () listbox com>
>
> excerpted from https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/16/link-crashes-macos-ios-fix/ 
> <https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/16/link-crashes-macos-ios-fix/>:
> Every so often, a bizarre link <https://9to5mac.com/2016/01/25/safari-mac-iphone-ipad-crash/> or piece of text 
> surfaces <https://9to5mac.com/2015/05/26/ios-messages-crash-bug/> that, when sent via iOS or macOS, will cause 
> noticeable issues to the recipient’s device. Today, the latest form of this has emerged in what’s being referred to 
> as “chaiOS.” It’s a basic GitHub link on the surface, but it crashes Messages on both macOS and iOS…
>
>
> The issue was first discovered by Twitter user Abraham Masri, who says the link has a host of effects on macOS and 
> iOS, including freezing, resprings, battery issues, and more.
>
> We tested the chaiOS bug and had mixed results. In some instances, sending the link would cause both the sender and 
> recipient’s device to respiring or cause the Messages app to instantly freeze and crash. Furthermore, reentering the 
> thread would cause the Messages app to crash again and again, making the only viable solution to regain access to 
> that thread to delete it and start a new one.
>
> In other cases, Safari would crash or display the spinning beach ball on macOS. We never experienced a full device 
> respiring, but that’s not to say it’s not possible. Additionally, it sometimes caused dramatic lag in the Messages 
> app and throughout iOS and macOS.
>
> It’s unclear what exactly is causing this problem, but it harks back to the “effective power” bug 
> <https://9to5mac.com/2015/05/26/ios-messages-crash-bug/> that plagued iOS devices a few years ago. Since then, we’ve 
> seen a few other similar issues.
>
> Issues like this generally are harmless and are mainly used for pranks on social media and in Messages. The ‘hack’ 
> has been seen to work on the latest public versions of macOS and iOS, as well as select beta users. Apple generally 
> doesn’t rush to fix these types of issues as they pose no immediate risk to users other than a brief annoyance.
>
> The link itself is available in the tweet embed below. In general, this “bug” is just a pain all around in Messages. 
> It’ll cause your device to completely freeze, prevent Messages from opening at all, and much more. This is definitely 
> an instance where you should proceed at your own risk. [...]
>
>
> -- 
> Geoff.Goodfellow () iconia com <mailto:Geoff.Goodfellow () iconia com>
> living as The Truth is True
> http://geoff.livejournal.com <http://geoff.livejournal.com/>  
>
> This message was sent to the list address and trashed, but can be found online. 
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