Recently this week many students have discovered the iPhone text messaging “bug.” Many students have found a way for iPhone users’ phones to be shut down by sending an encrypted message containing Chinese characters and the phrase “effective. Power.”

According to CNN.com, “A text consisting of a particular string of characters, revealed on Reddit late Tuesday, exploits an inability of the messaging app’s preview feature to correctly render the characters, which are not the standard alphanumerics or emoticons one typically texts.”

Where this hack was found is unclear, but Apple is doing their best to try and resolve the issue.

CNN.com also states, “Apple wrote on its support site, under the heading ‘If Messages quits unexpectedly after you get a text with a specific string of characters,’ that the company ‘is aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters.’ The post said Apple will make a fix available in a software update.”

Until the problem is solved by Apple, there are a few things one can do to prevent the problems from arising and not have to block any contacts. First thing to try is asking Siri to “read unread messages.”

Also, use Siri to reply to the message. After the reply, the phone will be able to open Messages again. Lastly, in Messages, swipe left to delete the entire conversation, or tap and hold the message, tap “more,” and delete the message from the conversation.

If all fails and the phone continues to have problems, the last thing to do is block the people who send the messages and do a quick reset of the phone.

Lastly, hold the home button with the power button as if one was taking a screenshot. Hold them in for a few seconds and an apple should appear. This signals that the phone has closed down all the apps and refreshed its system. All the contacts, photos, and apps will remain on the phone.