Android

Image supplied

The wallpaper that crashes Android devices

As if we didn’t have enough security issues in this age of technology, we now have a certain image that if added to your phones wallpaper could crash your entire phone.

Android

Image supplied

This issue was first discovered after a Twitter user had leaked the image that apparently causes this crash.

This malfunction has now been verified by 9to5Google and Android Authority.

It is rumoured however that the bug only affects certain phones. The leaker that originally brought the issue to light had said that Samsung handsets in particular were being affected, but it has now also been proven to have affected other phones such as Google Pixel devices and some others.

The bug affects your phone when you set the image as your wallpaper. Your device’s screen will instantly start switching on and off, which of course will render your phone totally useless.

According to 9to5 Google trying to reboot the phone will have no effect and they even tried restarting the infected phone into a safe mode and then deleted said image file and this was a potential solution, but when Android Authority tried it, they had to eventually factory-set the device. Factory-setting our devices is of course not a desirable solution, especially on devices with important data on them or those used for business purposes.

Does it affect all Android devices?

Android Authority has said that this issue doesn’t seem to be universal on all Android devices as they themselves tried to replicate the bug on a Huawei Mate 20 Pro to no avail as the phone was not affected at all.

A Tweeter for 9to5Google has surmised that it could be caused by phones that don’t support the colour space used by the image. Apparently, this specific image uses the RGB color space whereas many other of the Android devices prefer the use of SRGB.

If you have watched the video you will see that the image causing all the ruckus is a seemingly innocent and beautiful landscape image, that doesn’t seem sinister in any way.

It appears as though that this innocuous little issue can be fixed and it has been said that one developer has already submitted a patch to resolve it, which is admittedly a welcomed relief.

It is always wise to use some extra caution when downloading content — even short videos can cause big issues. New bugs and malware are always popping up in unexpected places.

Although we cannot be 100% protected, a little caution and logical thinking goes a long way.

Tags: