This iOS 18 Messages Bug Could Make You Lose an Entire Conversation
iOS 18 is out now and it’s an update that brings a lot of good, but also at least one pretty serious bug. Fortunately, it’s a bug that’s also easy to avoid if you’re aware of it.
9to5Mac reports that if someone shares their Apple Watch face with you in the Messages app, the Messages app will crash for both you and the person who sent the Apple Watch face, if you’re using iOS 18 and reply to the message in a thread.
This isn’t a one-time crash, though. The app also crashes every time you try to open that conversation. Often, the app will crash when you’re viewing other conversations, making the Messages app virtually unusable.
Removal is the only solution
The only workaround that’s been found is to delete the conversation that was causing the bug from both devices, a process that can be tricky since the Messages app keeps crashing. And of course, that means you’ll lose the entire conversation, including any photos or videos not stored outside of Messages.
You can restore the conversation from the Recently Deleted folder, but this would reintroduce the bug.
Additionally, 9to5Mac reports that the bug will not be triggered if you reply to the Apple Watch face from a device running the iOS 18.1 beta, only iOS 18. However, it appears that if someone replies from a device running iOS 18, the bug could be triggered for the sender of the Apple Watch face, even if the device is running different software.
It’s unclear whether this bug will always occur under the above circumstances, but it’s certainly not worth the risk. So for the time being, avoid sharing Apple Watch faces in the Messages app regardless of which version of iOS your device is running, and if someone shares an Apple Watch face with you, don’t respond to it in a thread if you’re running iOS 18.
Apple is likely already working on a fix for this, perhaps in an iOS 18.0. 1 update, so hopefully you’ll be able to safely share Apple Watch faces again soon. And once it’s fixed, hopefully anyone who’s already fallen victim to this bug should be able to safely restore the conversation from their Recently Deleted folder.
