A glitch in iOS software has been discovered that causes iPhones to shut down when they receive a particular text message.

The bug – which was first discovered by Reddit users – means that a very specific text message, which contains a number of non-Latin characters, will cause the phone to instantly switch off and reboot when it receives the message.

The Guardian reports that problem appears to stem from the operating system being unable to properly display the message with a banner notification when the message is received. So if you are outside the message screen when you get the message, the phone will attempt to display it with a banner notification. When the system can’t handle the task it will instantly power down.

The message is very specific and certainly unlikely to be sent accidentally, containing a number of English language words and non-Latin characters. 

It appears from reports online that if the message is sent while the recipient is already looking at the message conversation then it won’t work, as the system will only shut down when attempting to display the message in banner form.

If you want to protect yourself from a crash you will need to disable banner notifications on your iPhone.

There have been reports of the message effectively blocking the user from their messages app, even after rebooting. Some Reddit users have claimed that one method of getting around this is to send a photo to the person who sent you the message, using the Photos app. This will then allow you back into the message conversation, where you can delete the conversation and the root cause of the problem. 

Apple have told Fortune: “We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update.”

And the text doesn't need to come from an external device - you can happily attack yourself if you want to: