Apple Plugs Security Hole That Enabled FBI to Access Deleted Signal Messages on iPhone - CNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The iOS 26.4.2 update is actually a big deal for privacy, even for people who use other messaging apps. Apple has released the iOS 26.4.2 update. Apple has released iOS 26.4.2, a seemingly minor security update for iPhone that turns out to patch a serious security vulnerability that allowed the FBI to read sensitive messages from the Signal messaging app, even after the app had been deleted. In early April, 404 Media reported that the federal organization had extracted the messages from a defendant’s phone because the system still contained copies of the notifications that were generated when the texts were sent. Although Apple doesn’t specifically call out the FBI incident, the description in the company’s security note (which also applies to iPadOS 26.4.2 for iPad models) matches the issue. “Notifications marked for deletion could be unexpectedly retained on the device,” the note reads. The upda