Apple released a software update Wednesday for iPhones and iPads, fixing a bug that allowed law enforcement to retrieve messages that had been automatically deleted or disappeared from messaging apps. This was because the notifications that displayed the content of the messages were also cached on the device for up to a month.
In a security notice on its website, Apple said that the bug meant that “notifications marked for deletion could unexpectedly persist on the device.”
This is a clear reference to a subject revealed by 404 Media beginning of this month. The independent news outlet reported that the FBI was able to extract deleted Signal messages from someone’s iPhone using forensic tools because the content of the messages had appeared in a notification and then been stored in a phone’s database — even after the messages on Signal were deleted.
Following the news, Signal president Meredith Whittaker said the messaging app maker had asked Apple to address the issue. “Notifications for deleted messages should not remain in any operating system notification database,” Whittaker he wrote in a post on Bluesky.
Contact us
Do you have more information about how authorities are using forensic tools on iPhone or Android devices? From a non-working device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382 or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb or via email.
It’s unclear why the content of the notifications was captured in the first place, but today’s patch suggests it was a bug.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking why the notifications were kept. The company too supported the fix to iPhone and iPad owners using the older iOS 18 software.
Privacy activists were alarmed when they learned that the FBI had found a way to bypass a security feature used every day by vulnerable users. Signal, like other messaging apps like WhatsApp, allows users to set a timer that instructs the app to automatically delete messages after a set amount of time. This feature can be useful for anyone who wants to keep their conversations private in case the authorities seize their devices.
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