WhistleOut fast facts
- Users report that an Apple Watch feature is triggering an iOS 18 bug in iMessage.
- The bug causes iMessage to crash, leading to frustrations and lost data.
- Until Apple releases a fix, users can avoid the bug by waiting to update or avoiding sharing Apple Watch features.
iOS 18 has been out for less than a week, and users have already found a bug happening within iMessages. Users sharing an Apple Watch face in a threaded conversation is causing iMessage to crash, sometimes deleting all of the conversation’s messages. Specifically, users report (and 9to5Mac has corroborated) that replying to a message with a threaded response in a conversation after sharing an Apple Watch face triggers the crashes.
Image: Kevin Kearney
This happens to both people in the conversation, not just the person replying to the shared Apple Watch face. The only current solution is for both parties to delete the conversation entirely—which can be difficult, as the Messages app will continually crash any time either party attempts to open it.
Similarly, deleting the conversation and then attempting to restore it from the app's "Recently deleted" option will bring back the crash. This means both users must permanently delete that conversation. This has left people frustrated by losing their chat history, photos, videos, and anything else they haven't saved elsewhere on their iPhone.
How to avoid the iOS iMessage 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 or replying to any shared with you. The threaded "reply" feature has become a standard of iMessage, one that’s now second nature for most users. Even if you’re cognizant of the bug, you'll likely eventually use a threaded reply in the course of a conversation. If you’ve previously shared an Apple Watch face, you’re at risk for a crash. If you haven’t ever shared a Watch face (or had one shared with you), 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 an experienced journalist and writer whose musings on tech, education, and culture have appeared in Stereogum, InsideHook, The Millions, and elsewhere. As Deputy Editor for WhistleOut, he offers unique expertise on the inner workings of the mobile industry, and has a particular passion for emerging efficiencies within smartphone apps. When he’s not researching the telecom market, he enjoys reading, running, and playing music.
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