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Surprise: CrashSafari.com...Crashes Safari

The crashsafari.com URL overloads the browser, forcing an iPhone or iPad to heat up and restart.

By Stephanie Mlot
January 26, 2016
Safari Tips

Apple users: Beware of a sneaky link that will crash Safari.

As The Guardian reports, those who click on crashsafari.com will, not surprisingly, crash their browser. Apple iPhones will then heat up and reboot thanks to "an ever-increasing string of characters" bogging down a phone's memory.

The link also crashes Safari on iPad and Mac. It could also slow down Chrome on Android, Mac, and PC, the paper said, as well as Firefox. Shutting down the competing browsers and rebooting iOS devices, however, appears to fix the problem.

It's probably not smart to click on a URL called crashsafari.co, but tricksters could hide the address via a link-shortening program, so be on the lookout.

The prank site even has its own Twitter handle: "What better way to prank someone than crash their device," the @crashsafari bio says.

According to IT security company F-Secure, one of the shortened "Crash Safari" links was already clicked more than 100,000 times as of Monday.

Apple did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

The URL comes eight months after Apple killed a Messages bug that crashed an iDevice with a few choice symbols. Its main purpose, as reported at the time, was to reboot the phone and, in some cases, block a person from using the built-in Messages app.

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Jan. 27 to correct the crashsafari.co URL.

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About Stephanie Mlot

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Stephanie Mlot

B.A. in Journalism & Public Relations with minor in Communications Media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)

Reporter at The Frederick News-Post (2008-2012)

Reporter for PCMag and Geek.com (RIP) (2012-present)

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