WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world today, with over 2 billion users at the moment. That, however, also has a down side – when a bug hits the app, it has the potential to cause damage to large numbers of users. One such recent incident has been a new ‘crash code’ that reportedly originated and became popular in Brazil, and has been responsible for causing crashes en masse. The said crash code is, as with every code, a random string of characters. It is being spread by forwards, and by simply receiving the code on your phone, your WhatsApp app will crash.
Given that the app is crashing just by receiving the code, those who are falling victim to the bug are finding that their app is being rendered useless as a result. Users are failing to even open the app and initiate a backup either. According to reports, the app will crash even upon receiving certain vCards (or contact details), and the only resolution to this situation is to delete the app and restore your account subsequently. If you do not have regular backups turned on, chances are that you may end up losing all your chat details as a result of this bug.
Thankfully, WhatsApp has seemingly taken note of this issue, and is rolling out a patch to fix the bug. Reports state that WhatsApp is already rolling out an update with a patch to fix the issue on its iOS app, while an update for Android should also be rolling out soon. The bug has seemingly affected both iOS and Android versions of the app.
In a bid to remain transparent about its security issues, WhatsApp has recently established a security advisories page, where it will update users about all vulnerabilities that are reported and patched about the app. So far, WhatsApp has noted down six security flaws that were found in the app in 2020.
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