WhatsApp, a widely used social media platform is now being attacked by a new bug and might force its users to shut down the app. This bug was first discovered by two 17-year-old Indian researchers - Indrajeet Bhuyan and Saurav Kar.
Previously, these researchers had noticed that sending a 7MB-large message on WhatsApp can crash down the app. But recent reports state that even 2KB (around 2,000 words) special character text on WhatsApp might result WhatsApp to crash down.
Media reports also state that the bug will delete your chat history and shut down the app on Android handsets. Even if you try to go back to the app, the bug attack will force the app to shut down again. If the 2KB message appears on your group chats, each member of WhatsApp group will be affected. This indirectly will force you to leave the group.
Media reports also state that even if the thread is backed up, you might face the same issue again.
The widespread bug is currently affecting WhatsApp 2.11.431 and 2.11.432 versions. SoftPedia stated that this hasn’t affected the Windows Phone 8.1 handsets and several tests are being conducted on the iOS version of WhatsApp as well. A WhatsApp user in India also lately complained that she couldn’t reinstall the app from Google Play anymore. This could be the cause of the bug on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has been trying to improve its privacy settings by offering its users the option to hide the last seen status, untick the Blue ticks option and is also working on the end-to-end encryption.
Watch: WhatsApp Crash Bug. (Video credit: Youtube)
