Apple introduced iOS 18 in June of this year, and the rollout began just a few days ago. However, users are experiencing issues with the update, particularly with the iMessage app. A notable bug is causing the app to crash and leading to potential data loss, impacting both parties involved in the conversation.
Sharing Watch Faces
The Apple Watch includes a feature that allows users to share their watch faces via Messages or Mail directly from watchOS. This is designed to facilitate the sharing of customized watch face settings. The iMessage bug appears when someone replies to a shared watch face within a conversation in iOS 18.
App Crashes
When users attempt to access the conversation, the app crashes. Additionally, using other chat threads can become problematic as the app may crash multiple times. If a user replies to the shared watch face, the Messages app will crash not only on iOS 18.1 beta but also on iPadOS 18.1 beta and macOS 15.1 beta.
Possible Solution
For now, both users can resolve the issue by deleting the conversation thread from their devices. However, it is important to note that this action will erase the entire conversation history. This solution may also lead to the loss of any attachments, such as photos and videos, that were not saved outside of iMessage.
Attempting to recover the deleted thread from the recently deleted section will also bring back the bug. Users hope that Apple will address this problem in iOS, macOS, and watchOS soon. Until a fix is implemented, it’s advisable for users to refrain from replying to any threaded messages that include a shared watch face from an Apple Watch.
