Remember the “effective power” prank that plagued iPhone users last year by causing their devices to reboot over and over again? Well, this time around pranksters have come up with something a little less dangerous but just as annoying, and the really bad news is that Android and PC users can also become affected. A website named Crashsafari.com has recently surfaced, and it looks it causes crashes for all iPhones. Moreover, Android users will experience slowdowns and will likely notice that their smartphones are heating up, which is probably not as serious as a crash but it’s still an issue that requires a reboot nonetheless.
Crashing my iPod touch. #CrashSafari pic.twitter.com/gSlBmD8aKw
— Sean Sullivan (@5ean5ullivan) January 25, 2016
The main culprit is likely the website’s code, which includes a very long line of characters that are very difficult for the browser process successfully. Therefore, the device experiences a memory issue that causes it to crash almost immediately. In order to spread the link further and make sure that as many people as possible click on it, pranksters are disguising the real link using shorteners, so you should definitely keep a close eye on what you click these days. If you do end up visiting the website by accident, though, you shouldn’t worry too much as your smartphone will likely behave normally after a reboot.
If you go to https://t.co/cfuhaPcviT, it will crash safari on iOS, the "world's most advanced mobile operating system".
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) January 25, 2016
Crashes chrome too