Overview

• A bug in iMessage's transcription feature prevents audio messages mentioning brand names with ampersands from being delivered to recipients.
• The issue stems from Apple's transcription engine failing to properly escape ampersands in XHTML, leading to parsing errors in the BlastDoor security service.
• Affected messages are silently blocked by BlastDoor, a system designed to prevent malicious content, without notifying the sender or recipient.
• The problem, first introduced in iOS 17, remains unresolved in the iOS 18.5 release candidate as of May 13, 2025.
• Apple has not publicly commented on the issue or provided a timeline for addressing the bug, which impacts messages referencing brands like Dave & Buster's and Barnes & Noble.