Users iPhone is reporting a strange bug in the Messages app that causes some voicemails to never reach their recipients. The message appears to have been sent, but never appears on the other end. What exactly is going on? And why mentioning a well-known brand can ruin an entire audio?
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It sounds like a joke, but it's not: a curious bug has appeared in the native Messages app that prevents users from sending voice messages containing names with an ampersand ("&"). So if you try to send your friends audio message and mention H&M, Tiffany & Co. or maybe Dave & Buster's, the message simply disappears as if it never existed.
Where is the error?
He was the first to point out the problem podcast Search Engine and was subsequently analyzed more thoroughly by developer Guilherme Rambo. The error in question occurs in the transcript, which Apple automatically added to each voice message. This transcription uses machine speech recognition and displays the transcribed words directly in the Messages app.
ProThe problem occurs when Apple in the aforementioned transcription, it recognizes the company name and displays it in the correct form – i.e. with an ampersand. For example, the sentence “Do you shop at H&M?” appears in the transcription with an “&” instead of an “and” – and this is where the technical hitch begins.
According to Guilherme Rambo, the problem is not in the voice message itself, but in the way it is Apple processes its transcription. When sending a message with an ampersand, an error occurs when parsing the transcription – apparently due to an incorrectly encoded XHTML character "&".
This error is caught by the BlastDoor security mechanism, which Apple integrated into iMessage to protect users from malicious messages. The result is that the voice message simply doesn't go through. Everything looks fine on the sending device, but the recipient sees three dots (a typing indication) – and then nothing. The message simply never gets delivered.
Proright now?
The bug is very specific, so it may have gone unnoticed by users for a long time. It was discovered when using the name Dave & Buster's. It has since been confirmed that the problem affects any terms where the transliteration contains an ampersand. Apple has not yet officially commented on the issue, but given the growing interest from the media and the developer community, it is expected that a fix will be included in one of the upcoming updates. iOS.
Until then, a simple solution is recommended: users are advised to avoid names containing the "&" character in voice messages – or replace them with the word "and".
