A text string specially formatted, text-bomb that could be sent to a customer on any messaging platform with such a “content preview” feature put iPhone users in danger last month. The iPhone crashed when the message appeared on the screen. It was as simple as that. Thankfully the iPhone would reboot regularly. This is frustrating and nothing more. Currently, it looks like it’s the phase of Android. Only this time the problem will cripple a device, prompting a reboot to start it up again.
Initially noticed by Ice Universe, and shared on Twitter, it appears that the issue sits with the formatting of a particular image. The problem is with the color space of this particular image.
Android usually tries to show sRGB but instead uses the RGB color space for this graphic. The device converts color space on Android 11, but it does not do so on Android 10.
The problem is triggered by the image’s color profile, which reaches the limitations of what Android can accommodate. This means the issue is not restricted to this specific image. It’s a design error and so it may be found in many even to surface pictures.
This issue doesn’t affect all Android phones; it crashes Xiaomi, Samsung and Google phones, users claim, but not Huawei or OnePlus. And that much of that is anecdotal. And, it should be noted, this is not a manufacturer problem, it remains with Google and the Android OS. For any feedback on the identified flaw, Google has been notified.
This picture seems to be doing the rounds on social media, as you would have expected. No matter how enticing it may be to see the problem for yourself, don’t. There are now more than enough videos online where you can see the impact.
You ‘re not only going to happen upon this image, or one formatted like it, it’s going to be sent straight or through a link. You should be confident that in a fairly short time, other photos would be designed with the same vulnerability to try to deceive more of you into falling prey. Avoid the urge.
