Malaysians caught off-guard as navigation app Waze switches default language to Hebrew overnight, company pins blame on internal bug

Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — Malaysians using the navigation app, Waze, were caught off-guard when it automatically switched its 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

Screenshot from Reddit

Screenshot from Reddit
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 a draft resolution for the UN General Assembly to expel Israel from the United Nations.

However, others users on X chimed in that users in other countries, were also facing the same issue.

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.