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.
What in the israel hell is this suddenly my waze is in hebrew??? pic.twitter.com/pLpTqyYxeL
— wanda ???? (@wnaidanz) November 6, 2024
Is your #Waze acting weirdly tonight? pic.twitter.com/CCg0rCXOp5
— SoyaCincau (@Soya_Cincau) November 6, 2024
What happened to my waze? Tetiba jadi bahasa Yahudi (Hebrew) pulak. Tachodnyaaa pic.twitter.com/goi4FWVfqs
— my name is AL (@princesslalolaa) November 6, 2024
What happened to my waze? Tetiba jadi bahasa Yahudi (Hebrew) pulak. Tachodnyaaa pic.twitter.com/goi4FWVfqs
— my name is AL (@princesslalolaa) November 6, 2024
Waze Malaysia turned into Hebrew settings today pic.twitter.com/DCNL60usCy
— Her (@_dahlianabilah) November 6, 2024
Apart from taking to X, Malaysians took to Reddit too to ask what was going on.
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.
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
BREAKING: Malaysia wanta to expel Israel from the UNMalaysia prepares draft resolution to expel Israel from the UN. pic.twitter.com/NPwPSa4bNr
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 5, 2024
However, others users on X chimed in that users in other countries, were also facing the same issue.
waze lg kenapa dah, kok tiba2 bahasanya ganti2 sendiri, ini malah jadi bahasa hebrew gini pic.twitter.com/rdeAWLZH32
— Opini Jelek (@opinijelek) November 6, 2024
Not just malaysia, UK too. We are having the same issue, so are the Americans according to reddit.
— Lucivaryas (@lucivaryas) November 6, 2024
Bug sur Waze?!?Tout les textes sont en hébreux pic.twitter.com/apVKj2oD0O
— Casa khasra (@casakhasra) 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
@waze why language changed to this despicable Hebrew language?? How do i turn it back to english?? pic.twitter.com/T1D4Jozdsh
— BLVK_HAT (@Rudnus) 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.
for anyone that needs to change their @waze from hebrew back to englishsettings (#3) > general (#1) > language (#1) pic.twitter.com/t92RCBmosl
— 버그 (@bugkkubi) November 6, 2024
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.
Waze hacked. pic.twitter.com/N4nFoD5WeS
— paan (@pferhen) November 6, 2024
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.
