KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — Malaysians using the navigation app, Waze, were caught off-guard when it automatically switched it’s default language setting to Hebrew last night.
Malaysians took to social media to express their surprise and confusion over the sudden change on the app from Waze Mobile Ltd, formerly known as FreeMap Israel.
Apart from taking to X, Malaysians took to Reddit too to ask what was going on.
Screenshot from Reddit
Screenshot from Reddit
Some users on X speculated it could be related to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that Malaysia is preparing for draft resolution for the UN General Assembly to expel Israel from the United Nations.
Reports of Israeli-made Waze app for users in Malaysia unknowingly changed its language to Hebrew, just days after news reports emerging of Malaysia’s plans to propose a resolution to expel Israel from UN? https://t.co/ymGpl8wHrF
— K (@KhabirM) November 6, 2024
However, others users on X chimed in that users in other countries, were also facing the same issue.
Not just malaysia, UK too. We are having the same issue, so are the Americans according to reddit.
— Lucivaryas (@lucivaryas) November 6, 2024
@waze your app is out of control today… first it switches into Hebrew itself, then warnings are sounding all the time (while my config is just for alerts) and also speed limits and speed are completely random… pic.twitter.com/sAyaLh1rDK
— Amancio Landín (@alandinn) November 6, 2024
On social media, some users tried to guide others on how to change the language settings back to that of their choice.
The strange issue led many to question whether the platform had been hacked — a claim disputed by Waze which told The Sun it was down to an internal bug.
A spokesperson for the Google-owned app said: “We’re aware of an issue impacting the language selection of Waze users and are working to quickly resolve.”
The ‘glitch’ appears to have been resolved and the app appears to be working as normal at the moment.
