This five-second video will crash your iPhone

A new bug was uncovered on Tuesday by Reddit users in Apple’s iOS that crashes iPhones after playing a short video.

Unlike other glitches, this video does not crash the device immediately but takes about 10 seconds for it to crash after viewing the video via the default player in iMessage. So, don't text it to your friends.



The problem reportedly only occurs when the video is sent as a link rather than transferred as a file via iMessage.

How the bug works

The problem does not appear to be with iMessage, but how iOS handles corrupted videos.  When the corrupted video is played, it creates a loop in the background after closing it by exploiting a loophole in iOS’ embedded video player.

A video posted on YouTube shows that after you play the video, you can still use the device and open apps normally as the crash does not happen immediately. After about 10 seconds, you would notice that the device has started slowing down and ultimately freezes. After that you can not even use the home button or power button.


Only way to get out of the crash is to hold  the power button and home button simultaneously to force restart your device.



According to a Redditt post, the bug affects devices running iOS 8.1, 9.3, 10.1 and 10.2 beta 1,2,3. Apparently, the hack also works on iPad Pro as well as iPhone 7.

So, if you receive any message, do not click on it.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments section below.