If you"re an iOS device owner, chances are you"ve heard the news that with a specific string of unicode code sent via text can crash your device. Today, Apple has outlined a temporary fix for those that have been or will be affected by the denial of service attack.
While a temporary crash might not be too annoying, the unicode attack that has affected many is also reported to cause issues with the native iOS Messaging application. Users that have received the malicious text message have reported the inability to access their messages and as a result, cannot send or receive messages.
As a solution, Apple has asked iOS users that are affected to prompt Siri with the command to "read unread messages". Using Siri again, respond to the malicious text message. Once completed, you should regain access to the Messaging app allowing users to resume texting and iMessaging as normal. Naturally, it"s recommended to delete the offending text message once you have access to Messaging app. Although this is not a permanent fix, Apple has stated that there will be an upcoming update to remedy the issue.