A bug was recently discovered in iOS that will reboot an iPhone and crash the Messages app when a certain text string is received by a user. It’s mostly harmless, but quite annoying. However, Apple has released some temporary fixes until they release an official patch to fix the bug.
The text string contains “Power” followed by some random foreign characters, some in Arabic. Supposedly getting this message on your iPhone can suddenly restart your device and render iMessage unusable as it is said to crash constantly.
Again, it’s mostly harmless when it comes to security, but it’s a bug that can be really annoying and cause a lot of frustration, especially if you have friends who like to prank. However, several fixes have been discovered and Apple has officially released them on its support website.
If you find yourself a victim of this annoying little bug, here’s how you can fix it temporarily until Apple releases a patch in an upcoming update.
How To Fix iMessage Error
Inside Apple’s support documentThe company lists several methods to fix the iMessage error temporarily, all of which are really easy to do and take little time.
The first option is that you can ask Siri to “read unread messages”. You can also use Siri to reply to the blocked message and open Messages again after replying.
Another fix is to open the Messages app, swipe left to delete the entire thread. Or tap and hold the problem message, tap and delete the related message from the thread.
Other iMessage Issues
Of course, this bug is not the only iMessage issue users are facing. There are a number of other issues users are experiencing, including connection issues and sync issues.
A very common problem with iMessage is that messages cannot be sent or received properly even if you have good service.
First, you’ll want to check Apple’s System Status site To make sure iMessage is not turned off. If so, the problem is most likely not on your end, but if iMessage seems to be working properly on the Apple side, then most likely the problem is on your end.
If you encounter a message you are trying to send but the message does not go off even if you have a good WiFi or data signal, try turning WiFi and LTE off on your device and then on again, or simply restart your iPhone or iPad. This usually fixes the cheat, but if not, you can sometimes turn the cheating iMessage off and back on. Go to and turn it off and then back on.
If that doesn’t work, go and open it. This will send a message as a regular text message if iMessage fails to send the message as iMessage.
If that still doesn’t fix the problem, it’s time to reset your network settings. enter inside. This will clear all your network settings, so you have to re-enter saved WiFi passwords, but this might fix the problem.
As for syncing issues, if you’re getting iMessages on your iPhone but not on your iPad or other Apple device, there’s something wrong with syncing.
You may not be setting up iMessage properly, so the service may not be syncing properly. Head over to our guide on how to set up iMessage and see if that fixes the issue.
If you’re still having problems, a quick fix is to disable iMessage on all devices that have iMessage and then re-enable it on each device one at a time. To do this, go and turn it off on all your devices. Then go back to each device and turn on iMessage.
