Several PlayStation 4 users report their console became unusable and went in a boot loop after receiving a message with strange characters. Users who received and opened the message will, in the worst case, have to reset their device to factory settings.
(The message causing issue - credits Reddit user Huntstark)
Warnings for the message are spreading on the PlayStation Network. Several users state they received a message with characters the PlayStation 4 doesn't recognize. The message looks like a combination of the word 'Juegas', 'a boxed question mark icon' and 'a heart icon'. If the message is opened, the system freezes and continuously reboots.
Users who've received such a message are advised to open them on the PlayStation app on their smartphone or tablet. Opening the message with the strange characters on the PlayStation app doesn't seem to cause any issues. From the app, the message can be deleted, so it also can no longer be accessed/opened by the PlayStation 4. It's also possible to remove the messages by logging into the account from a browser and remove the message that way.
To prevent receiving the message, PlayStation 4 users can use the Privacy Settings in Account Management to limit the messages feature to only friends or to not receive any messages at all. It's however also possible that friend requests and PlayStation communities will be used to spread the message. Users who want to be on the safe side should disable friend requests and not browse communities.
Those who've become victim of the message can first try to restart their console in safe mode and choose the option 'Rebuild Database'. If that doesn't help, the only possible option seems for now to be reset the PS4 to factory settings.
