Crash Safari: iPhone users warned not to click on browser-crippling tweets

Twitter and iPhone users have been warned not to click on a malicious link which causes the Safari and Chrome web browsers to crash and iOS to reboot. The link will also cause Chrome to crash on Android and Windows PC.

Mikko Hypponen drew attention to the website, called Crash Safari, in a tweet on Monday (25 January), claiming clicking the link will reboot your iPhone. IBTimes UK found the link also caused Chrome on Android phones and our PC to become unresponsive and crash.

An image posted by Hypponen shows how Twitter pranksters are luring people into clicking the link by using a URL shortener then claiming the link points to a leaked album. One tweeted "Everybody check this out" and another said "I'm honestly disgusted...this is exactly what is wrong with society" then included the link.

The home page of Crash Safari states "what were you expecting?" and a Google search for the address reveals several similar websites, including Crash Firefox.

Twitter users replying to Hypponen confirmed the link crashes Safari on iOS 9.3 Beta, but it did not cause the phone to reboot. Another said it caused Chrome on Linux to crash too, while others said the link fills your browsing history with "garbage". One said: "It's not just Safari or iPhones. Clicked it in Chrome on Windows, and suddenly it was taking up a full CPU core and 9GB RAM...and now I have 4,000 junk history entries."

The link crashes Chrome on Android 4.4, too, but one user reported that nothing happens when clicked on a BlackBerry Q10.

None of the links appear to cause any permanent damage, but it goes without saying that you probably shouldn't click on them regardless – and the same goes for any tweets claiming to link to something improbably, such as unreleased films or music.