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iOS 26.4.2 fixes a flaw that allowed access to deleted texts.
The FBI exploited this flaw to recover messages from a Signal user.
The patch should protect other messaging apps from this weakness.
Many people use the popular Signal app to send and receive encrypted text messages. As an added bonus, you can set all texts to automatically disappear after a certain amount of time. But those protections don't help as much if there's an underlying flaw in your device's operating system. And that's exactly what happened, and why Apple had to fix it.
On Wednesday, Apple released its latest minor update for iOS (and iPadOS). The release notes for iOS/iPadOS 26.4.2 show only one vulnerability patched by the new version. Impacting the notifications service on your iPhone or iPad, the note simply says: "Notifications marked for deletion could be unexpectedly retained on the device."
Also: What is Signal? 7 features that make it a go-to app for private, secure messaging
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