United Kingdom, April 23 -- Apple has pushed out a fresh iOS update to shut down a privacy gap that left deleted push notifications lingering on devices long after users thought they were gone.

The flaw meant that information wiped from an iPhone or iPad's lock screen could still be recovered from the system's internal notification database - something digital rights groups say law enforcement had quietly taken advantage of.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation drew attention to the issue, noting that it created an unusual weak spot in Apple's otherwise rigid approach to user privacy.

Although Apple has required a court order to hand over notification data since 2023, this loophole meant investigators could bypass that process by pulling...