Beware: This 5 second video is freezing people’s iPhones

Most of us are so attached to our smartphones that we’ve definitely all had that momentary panic when they stop working. And now there’s a new video prank that seems to be freezing people’s iPhones, which is just NOT OKAY.

This year has already seen a few pranks that can totally crash people’s phones, from switching the date to loading a specific webpage. Basically, there are some pretty weird ways that you can DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE LIFE, and it seems that that now there’s a new one to add to the list.

This five-second video is freezing people’s iPhones and people are sharing it as a “prank.”

According to a report on The Verge, Reddit users started noticing the bug earlier this week, which saw people’s phones crashing after watching a specific five-second created by the Sina Weibo-backed video-sharing app Miaopai.

While the short video plays normally, within seconds people’s iPhones start to freeze up and crash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B15nBZ7pjLs?feature=oembed

The bug appears to be due to a corrupted MP4 file, which in turn crashes iOS.

The clip seems to want to keep playing in the background, which forces the iPhones to freeze up. In fact, the above YouTube video showcases how the bug impacts a variety of models and operating systems, from the iPhone 7 all the way to the iPhone 4 running an old version of iOS.

The video only appears to crash the devices when sent as a link and not as a specific file.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to fix the problem.

While it might seem scary at first, it’s a relief to know that this video doesn’t permanently break people’s phones. Rather, there’s a simple way to get your phone to return to normal.

All you have to do is reset your phone. If you have an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you need to hold the power and down volume buttons until you see the Apple logo. With the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, or older devices, you need to reset by holding the power and home buttons until the Apple logo appears. Simple!

It’s been reported that this bug only affects Apple devices, and doesn’t seem to have an impact on Android or Windows phones. It’s unclear at this stage whether Apple will be issuing a fix for the bug.