Apple fixes bug that cops used to extract deleted chat messages from iPhones

Apple released an update to its software on Wednesday for iPhone and iPad to fix a bug that allowed law enforcement to automatically extract messages that had been deleted or disappeared from messaging apps. This is because notifications displaying message content are also cached on the device for up to a month.

In a security notice on its website, Apple He said that the bug It means that “notifications marked for deletion may unexpectedly remain on the device.”

This is a clear indication of an issue Revealed by 404 Media Earlier this month. The independent news outlet reported that the FBI was able to extract deleted Signal messages from someone’s iPhone using forensic tools, due to the fact that the content of the messages was displayed in a notification and then stored within the phone’s database — even after the messages were deleted within Signal.

Following the news, Signal President Meredith Whitaker said the messaging app maker had asked Apple to address the issue. “Deleted message notifications should not remain in any operating system notification database,” Whittaker says he wrote in a post on Bluesky.

It’s not clear why notification content was initially recorded, but today’s fix indicates it was a bug.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, asking why the notifications were kept. The company too The fix is ​​backported For iPhone and iPad owners using older iOS 18 software.

Privacy activists expressed alarm when they learned that the FBI had found a way to get around a security feature that vulnerable users use every day. Signal, like other messaging apps like WhatsApp, allows users to set up a timer that directs the app to automatically delete messages after a set period of time. This feature can be useful for anyone who wants to keep their conversations private in case their devices are confiscated by the authorities.