How to Fix the Black Dot Unicode Bug Affecting iMessage
Last updated September 21, 2021
The Black Dot Unicode bug was discovered last week but it has been receiving widespread attention in the Apple community recently. Multiple popular YouTube channels have highlighted the bug and the bug can cause iMessage clients to crash on iOS. The bug involves the black dot and pointing left emojis.
In general, whenever a Unicode bug occurs it can be resolved by deleting the conversation that contains the problematic message. These bugs are not limited to iOS alone and can affect messaging apps like WhatsApp on Android too.
How to Fix the 'Black Dot' Unicode Bug Crashing iMessage on Apple Devices With 3D Touch
- You need to force close the iMessage app.
- Start Siri and send any message to the sender of the Unicode message so that the problematic message is not the last message in the conversation.
- Use 3D Touch on the Messages app icon on the home screen and create a new message in the pop-up menu.
- Tap Cancel in the top right of the new message screen.
- Tap on Edit in the top left corner of the Conversations list.
- Tap the circle on the left which has the problematic message which will throw up a blue checkmark.
- Tap on Delete in the bottom right corner.
Image Courtesy of iPhone Hacks
How to Fix the 'Black Dot' Unicode Bug Crashing iMessage on Apple Devices Without 3D Touch
- Close the iMessage app.
- Ask Siri to reply to the sender of the message as many times as needed until the bubble that contains the Unicode string does not show the black dot.
- Now, open the Messages app.
- From there, on the top-left corner tap on the back arrow to return to Conversations.
- In the top left corner of the Conversations, list Tap on Edit.
- Tap the circle on the left which has the Unicode message which will throw up a blue checkmark.
- Tap Delete on the bottom right corner.
It may also be possible to deal with the Unicode bug by for iOS 11.4 or macOS 10.13.5 betas via Messages on iCloud. For future instances of Unicode bugs, the same steps can be used to stop your iMessage client from crashing on your iOS or macOS device.
