You know what would be super annyoing? If someone sent you a special text that shut down your iPhone. Good thing that's not possible -- oh wait, it is. A hot new practical joke/scourge is upon us.
Here's everything you need to know about this stupid iPhone trick everyone hates.
1. Someone sends you the following text message. It looks like gibberish. And it is. But it casts a powerful spell on your phone.
We're going to show you what it looks like but you have to PROMISE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE IT AGAINST ANYONE! (Oops, sorry, the mom in me took over for a moment there.)
[code]
For anyone who is wondering text this message to restart someone's iPhone.
effective.
Power
Ù�Ù�Ù�Ù�صÙ�بÙ�Ù�Ù�Ù�صÙ�بÙ�ررÙ� ॣ ॣh ॣ ॣ
�
— Austin Cameron (@austincameron97) May 27, 20152. Here's what happens to your phone. If you receive the message while your phone is on the lock screen it will crash the messaging app and usually your phone will shut down and then reboot.
More from The Stir: 10 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your iPhone Could Do
3. This is due to a bug in the iPhone. Here's how CBS News describes it.
The message, revealed on Reddit late Tuesday, seems to exploit an inability of the app's preview feature to correctly render the characters, which are not the standard alphanumerics or emoticons one typically texts. After repeated attempts, the app crashes, leaving the user unable to send or receive texts as usual.
4. Only people you know who have your phone number can do this to you. You're not going to get spammed by random strangers with this prank. Not this time, anyway.
5. Apple says it's working on fixing the bug. You'll get the fix in the next software update. Any day now?
Hopefully your friends aren't annoying and no one will send you this text. Fingers crossed! Hey remember that iPhone 4 bug where your phone wouldn't get reception if you held it the wrong way, and Steve Jobs was all, "so don't hold your phone like that"? I wonder what he'd say about this bug.
Has this annoying iPhone trick already happened to you?
Image © Stephen Rafferty / Eye Ubiquitou/Eye Ubiquitous/Corbis