Law enforcement has been able to read your message notifications — Apple just put a stop to it

If you value your privacy and want to keep the messages on your iPhone and iPad out of prying eyes, you'll want to update your devices as soon as possible. Apple has just released a security update to fix a bug that stored content from deleted messages in a notification cache — which was letting law enforcement get hold of them.

Apple confirmed this news in a security notice on its website, noting that the bug meant "notifications marked for deletion could be unexpectedly retained on the device." In other words, the fact that you read and deleted a message on your phone wasn't enough. If it showed up as a notification, then a record of what that message said was being stored on your device — with reports claiming it would stay there for up to a month.

According to a report from 404 Media earlier this month, this bug has already been exploited by law enforcement, and the FBI was able to use forensic tools to locate copies of Signal messages from a defendant's iPhone. In this case, the app had actually been deleted, but the cached notifications remained.

The case in question involved a group of people setting off fireworks and vandalizing the ICE Prairieland Detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, last July. Testimony confirmed that messages had been recovered from the phone of defendant Lynne Sharp via Apple's internal notification storage.

An attorney representing Elizabeth Soto, a different defendant, also confirmed the FBI was able to extract the messages because of how notifications were set up on her phone, noting: "Anytime a notification pops up on the lock screen, Apple stores it in the internal memory of the device."

In both cases, only incoming messages could be extracted, since outgoing messages were not stored in the notification cache.

It doesn't matter where you fall politically or what your thoughts are on this specific case. Content from apps and messages shouldn't be sticking around after they've been deleted. Regardless of whether a random person attempts to snoop on your phone via forensic tools or not, there shouldn't be a secret archive of content that anyone can access.

That said, anyone who's ever used a file recovery tool knows that deleted doesn't necessarily mean gone. That's why it's important to safeguard your phone from potential attack. Ensure you have a secure passcode on your lockscreen, and make sure your notification settings are set in such a way that they don't feature any potentially sensitive information.

Certain apps, including Signal, let you customize how much content appears in notifications. iOS also lets you turn off notification previews if you head to Settings> Notifications > Show Previews and set it to Never. You should also make sure to keep your devices fully up to date with the latest security updates. For iPhone users, head to Settings > General > Software Update and make sure Automatic Updates is switched on.

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