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A new series of text bombs or ‘lock codes’ has been discovered that causes WhatsApp to continually crash on both iPhone and Android phones. Specially encoded messages containing a seemingly random string of strange characters cause rendering problems for WhatsApp, resulting in a crash cycle.
In addition to unbreakable message delivery lock codes, vCards (virtual contact cards) can also be used. Victims may have to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp, potentially losing chat history.
Dangerous codes are shared on online forums, and as the trusted insider site WABetaInfo explains, WhatsApp users are advised not to send them to friends, family or other contacts, not even as a joke.
Ray Walsh, a digital privacy expert at ProPrivacy, says the phenomenon is extremely concerning given the large number of people who use WhatsApp around the world – around 1.5 billion.
“Once the message has been received, the application will crash and even closing and restarting the application will fix the problem,” he says. “The current avalanche of text message bombs appears to have originated in Brazil, yet it is now spreading globally.”
Stay protected
Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself against these lockout codes. While it is not a guaranteed form of security, it is a good idea to limit who can add you to a group, as this will help reduce the risk of being exposed to strangers who may share a dangerous message or vCard with you.
Open WhatsApp settings, go to the ‘Privacy’ section and change the ‘Groups’ settings so that only your contacts can add you to a group.
Walsh advised anyone unlucky enough to receive a lock code message to log into their account on the web version of WhatsApp, lock the person who sent the message, and then delete it. This can be tricky unless you are already logged into WhatsApp Web as you need to scan a QR code with the WhatsApp mobile app.
We reached out to WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook for comment, but it did not immediately respond. We will update this story if we hear from you.
