Apple has released an unscheduled update for iPhone and iPad that fixes a dangerous bug in the notifications system. This bug could allow data from messages to remain on the device even after they were deleted.
iOS 26.4.2 / iPad OS 26.4.2 – The bug was fixed on April 22nd 2026; older versions of both were updated too (e.g. iOS 18.7.8 / iPadOS 18.7.8).
Here’s what Apple has written about it:
“Deleted Notifications may remain on your Device,” according to their Security Bulletin.
They’ve stated the fix involves “improved data cleaning”, however haven’t gone into detail. They’re also unclear if this bug has ever been exploited and why it required an out-of-cycle patch. They didn’t say how long these messages could stay on your device either, or if they can be retrieved.
There was a lot of buzz around a new piece published at 404 media recently. A story involving the FBI recovering a suspects’ Signal messages off his iPhone even though he’d deleted them from the application.
Court records show that the information wasn’t pulled directly from Signal but from the iOS notification storage instead.
“The messages were recovered from the Sharp phone via Apple’s Internal Notification Storage — Signal had been deleted but the incoming notifications were still on the Internal Storage,” reads the Court Documents.
Signal came out in support of Apple and their efforts.
“We are thankful to Apple for acting so quickly and for working with us to resolve an issue like this. When it comes to preserving the fundamental Human Right to Private Communication we believe that all parties involved need to work together.”
However, 404 media also reported that there may have been other instances where users completely deleted Signal, yet notification data may have continued to remain on the user’s device. While Apple doesn’t specifically mention this instance in their bulletin describing the issue they describe exactly what happened in the investigation.
Therefore, customers should not delay when it comes to installing software patches to avoid potentially having deleted messages stored within your device.
Privacy settings deserve some extra consideration. In order to reduce potential risk, you can adjust Signal’s notification settings below:
Open the ‘Settings’ menu from within Signal
Select the ‘Notifications’ option
Go into ‘Notification Content’
Choose either ‘Name Only’, or ‘No Name/Content’
By doing so, you’ll stop Signal from saving the content of the message on your iPhone’s notification storage.
