“Once you install the patch, all inadvertently preserved notifications will be deleted and future notifications from deleted apps will not be preserved,” Signal said.
Ars could not immediately reach Apple or Signal for additional comment.
User panic persists
However, in the Signal thread, users debated whether the update was enough, with some urging that best practice is probably to disable message previews entirely to limit device access to sensitive chats. Previously, Signal President Meredith Whittaker had posted on Bluesky to remind users that they can update Signal settings to “Show ‘No Name or Content'” in push notifications to avoid privacy issues. Some users agreed that enabling message previews on any type of device, not just Apple’s, seemed unwise in light of 404 Media’s reporting.
“By having message previews in notifications, you are giving the OS access to that content without being sure how it will handle those messages,” wrote a Bluesky user, “LofiTurtle.” “This patch removes a known method, but for added security, you should simply disable previews so the operating system never sees it.”
Another Bluesky user, “Alexndr,” speculated that Apple’s update suggested there might be other concerning content stored in a way that could frustrate other users of the app.
“The notification content that survives app deletion is the wild part,” Alexndr wrote. “I’m glad it’s patched, but it makes you wonder what else is in iOS notification caches.”
Somewhat defending Apple, a Bluesky user, “Coyote,” emphasized that Apple’s blog made it clear that this was not a caching issue, but rather a registry issue.
“The content of the notifications was not supposed to appear in the diagnostic logs, but sometimes it did,” Coyote suggested. “It specifically happened when you get a notification that the phone can’t handle, such as when the app it’s for is deleted.”
For Apple users, questions are likely to remain as governments seem interested in accessing encrypted chats however they can. Apple made headlines last year for Implementing end-to-end encryption in the UK to avoid complying with a law that made it easier for government officials to spy on encrypted chats. 404 Media noted that globally, law enforcement authorities have increasingly relied on “push notifications more broadly as an investigative strategy.” Last year, Apple gave in to lawsuits that “provided governments with data on thousands of push notifications,” 404 Media reported.
