FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database

bjord 63 points 21 comments April 09, 2026
www.404media.co · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (8 comments)

meithecatte

Perhaps Signal should force the notification settings to "don't show the content" when disappearing messages are enabled in a particular chat?

LocalH

Sounds like Apple needs to start flushing that database regularly, at least by option. Perhaps as part of Lockdown Mode?

tchalla

Can someone explain why notification databases are stored for a long period of time? The article is behind a paywall.

Cider9986

https://archive.ph/bSQhD

SomaticPirate

This is well known in the op-sec communities. iOS and Android notifications route through their servers and can be stored indefinitely (ie especially under a court order) You need to disable the content previews if you want to be secure. But even the notification metadata can be quite valuable to law enforcement (who is messaging you, what time of day, etc.) Also standard requirement on govt mobile devices to disable notifications. Mattermost provides this option at the server level to block notifications entirely for ios/android devices.

eviks

> Signal had been removed, but incoming notifications were preserved in internal memory Why are app notifications not part of app data that gets deleted on uninstall???

Cider9986

I think that https://molly.im/ is better than Signal Android.

skydv2

So we are talking about that any police with a cable can read ALL my past notifications, WhatsApp, Telegram, all banks? Like indefinitely in the past? And there is no way to flush the database? Wow thanks Apple.

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