Avoid the iOS 18 Bug That’s Crashing iMessage

By Kevin Kearney

Last updated 19 September 2024

Graphic featuring three iMessage notification for eight messages

WhistleOut fast facts

Users are reporting an iOS 18 bug in iMessage triggered by a feature of Apple Watch.
The bug causes iMessage to crash, leading to frustrations and lost data.
Until Apple releases a fix, the bug can be avoided in two basic ways.

iOS 18 has been out for less than a week, and users are starting to find its bugs. The most prominent issue is in iMessage—sharing an Apple Watch face in a conversation can cause iMessage to crash, sometimes deleting all of the conversation’s messages. Specifically, users report (and 9to5Mac corroborated) that replying to a message with a threaded response in a conversation after sharing an Apple Watch face triggers crashes.

Screenshot of iMessage reply in thread feature

The reply in-thread feature in iMessage.
Image: Kevin Kearney

To prevent the app from continuing to crash, users will need to delete the entire conversation. If that sounds difficult, it is, but users say it’s possible, even if they’re frustrated with losing their chat history.

How to avoid the bug

If you want to avoid the iOS 18 iMessage bug, the simplest solution is to hold off updating to iOS 18. Bugs are typical with early versions of Apple’s operating system and are usually ironed out in subsequent releases.

If you have already upgraded to iOS 18 and want to keep it, we recommend you avoid sharing Apple Watch faces in iMessage. The reply feature has become a standard feature of iMessage, one that’s now second nature for most users. Even if you’re cognizant of the bug, it’s likely you’ll eventually use a threaded reply in the course of a conversation. If you’ve previously shared a watch face, you’re at risk for a crash. If you haven’t shared a watch face, you’re in the clear.

We expect Apple to find a solution for this bug in the next update, though ZDNet reports that 18.1, which is currently available in developer beta, has the same issue.

Kevin Kearney

Kevin is the Deputy Editor for WhistleOut North America. As a writer and journalist, his pieces on tech, education, and culture have appeared in Stereogum, InsideHook, The Millions, and elsewhere. When he’s not researching the U.S. and Canadian telecom markets, he enjoys reading, running, and playing music.