Entering these four characters on an iPhone is enough to crash it. Be careful not to use them!

An iPhone user has found a bug that can crash the device with a simple code.

The iPhone may be one of the best-selling smartphones in the world, but that doesn't stop it from being affected by several bugs. One of the latest was recently discovered by a user on the social network Mastodon (X's main competitor, formerly Twitter). This bug is very simple and can, in a matter of moments, completely crash an iPhone.

Of course, we advise you not to reproduce the thing. While it does not fundamentally harm the stability of your device, it is never good to cause a bug yourself. However, if you want to try the manipulation, all you need is an iPhone with a version of iOS 17 (released at the end of 2023). Then go to the left of your menu to display the Spotlight app search (or simply in your app library and on the search bar). Then type the characters "":: to completely derail the iPhone and force it to produce a black screen.

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Several Internet users have noted that this code can also be followed by other characters and apply the bug in question. It also seems that this special code is only due to a flaw in the iOS 17 code and was corrected on iOS 18 released very recently on the latest iPhones.

If by mistake (or for fun) you still used this secret code to test it, don't panic. You just need to force turn off/on your iPhone a little to restart it and regain its functionality. It is also possible to force restart the device by following Apple's method:

• Press and release the Volume Up button.
• Press and release the Volume Down button.
• Press and hold the Side button until until the Apple logo appears (this takes about 10 seconds).

Your iPhone should now restart normally. If it still doesn't, charge it for at least an hour and try again.

Apple has not provided any comment on this strange bug, but the company already seems to be aware of its existence since the latest versions of iOS seem to have fixed the problem. Nor is it a code that one enters frequently without knowing it beforehand, and therefore unlikely to be reproduced unless one wants to play a bad joke.