Your iPhone may block audio messages if you mention this popular restaurant

iPhone

A strange little bug is making iPhone audio messages disappear– if you send an audio message from your iPhone and happen to say the words “Dave and Buster’s,” the message might never reach the person you’re sending it to.

App developer Guilherme Rambo discovered this unusual glitch and shared the details on the podcast Search Engine. It only happens when both the sender and the receiver are using Apple’s Messages app, and the issue is very specific, it kicks in only when the name of the popular US restaurant chain "Dave and Buster’s" is mentioned.

So, what’s going on?

When you send an audio message through the Messages app, iPhones automatically create a text version of what you said using a transcription tool. If you pronounce “Dave and Buster’s” naturally, the transcription engine writes it as “Dave & Buster’s,” using the ampersand (&) symbol.

That’s where things break down. The ampersand is a special character in computer language (specifically in HTML and XHTML) and has to be handled in a very particular way. If it isn’t, it can cause problems in how the message is processed.

Apple’s built-in safety system, called BlastDoor, is designed to block suspicious or potentially dangerous content. It’s meant to protect users from messages that might try to hack or damage their devices using faulty data. In this case, BlastDoor gets confused by the formatting issue and simply stops the message from going through.

Instead of delivering it, the recipient just sees the three dots—the "typing" animation—for a few seconds. Then… nothing. The message vanishes.

Rambo confirmed the issue by analyzing device logs and said this bug actually shows Apple’s security system is doing its job. Rather than letting a flawed message through, the system halts it completely.

So, for now, maybe avoid saying “Dave and Buster’s” in your voice messages, unless you’re okay with it disappearing into the digital void.