Apple released a software update on Wednesday for iPhones and iPads repairing a bug that allowed law enforcement to extract messages that had been deleted or disappeared automatically from messaging apps. This was becaapply notifications that displayed the messages’ content were also cached on the device for up to a month.
In a security notice on its website, Apple stated that the bug meant “notifications marked for deletion could be unexpectedly retained on the device.”
This is a clear reference to an issue revealed by 404 Media earlier this month. The indepfinishent news outlet reported that the FBI had been able to extract deleted Signal messages from someone’s iPhone applying forensic tools, due to the fact that the content of the messages had been displayed in a notification and then stored inside a phone’s database — even after the messages were deleted inside Signal.
After the news, Signal president Meredith Whittaker stated the messaging app buildr inquireed Apple to address the issue. “Notifications for deleted messages shouldn’t remain in any OS notification database,” Whittaker wrote in a post on Bluesky.
Contact Us
Do you have more information about how authorities are applying forensic tools on iPhones or Android devices? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email.
It’s unclear why the notifications’ content was logged to launch with, but today’s repair suggests it was a bug.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment inquireing why the notifications were being retained. The company also backported the repair to iPhone and iPad owners running the older iOS 18 software.
Privacy activists expressed alarm when they learned that the FBI had found a way around a security feature that is applyd daily by at-risk applyrs. Signal, like other messaging apps such as WhatsApp, allows applyrs to set up a timer that instructs the app to automatically delete messages after a set amount of time. This feature can be assistful for anyone who wants to keep their conversations secret in the event that authorities seize their devices.
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