“Black dot” WhatsApp message causes Messages to crash

A message that was doing the rounds on Android devices through WhatsApp has made its way to iPhones, where it is causing problems.

Among WhatsApp users on Android, the message would cause WhatsApp to hang if you open it. You then had to close and relaunch WhatsApp.

In iOS Messages, however, the same text causes the app to hang immediately, AppleInsider reported.

Closing and relaunching the app does not appear to resolve the issue.

The bug affects iPhones and iPads running iOS 11.3 and the beta releases of iOS 11.4.

Workarounds users are currently using include:

• Navigating away from the message with the dot in it so it does not appear when you launch Messages.
• Force the app to close, then create a new message using 3D Touch.
• Delete the message from another device connected to the same iCloud account.

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