Pavel Durov stated push notifications can create a privateness danger even after customers delete messages and apps.
Abstract
- Pavel Durov stated push notifications could protect knowledge even after customers delete chats and apps.
- Studies stated FBI retrieved deleted Sign messages from iPhone notification logs in a felony investigation.
- Curiosity in decentralized messaging apps rose as bans, unrest and web restrictions disrupted communication entry.
His remarks adopted reviews that investigators retrieved deleted Sign messages from iPhone notification logs, renewing debate about metadata, system storage and personal messaging instruments.
Durov stated push notifications can depart message knowledge on a tool outdoors the encrypted chat itself. He stated that danger stays even when customers flip off preview textual content, as a result of folks they contact should still use default settings.
“Turning off notification previews gained’t make you protected when you use these purposes, since you by no means know whether or not the folks you message have completed the identical,” he wrote.
He linked that time to privateness settings that rely on selections made by either side of a dialog.
Durov referred to a report first printed by 404 Media. The report stated the FBI accessed deleted Sign messages from notification logs saved on an Apple iPhone utilized in a felony case.
The case drew consideration to how investigators can entry knowledge created round messages, even when message content material stays protected by end-to-end encryption.
Furthermore, the reviews renewed give attention to metadata, notification storage and different information created by messaging apps and working programs. Encrypted content material could keep protected, however surrounding system knowledge can nonetheless reveal communication particulars.
That debate additionally elevated curiosity in messaging instruments that attempt to cut back centralized knowledge assortment. Builders of decentralized platforms say native storage, routing strategies and community design have an effect on how a lot data stays after customers ship or delete messages.
Decentralized apps acquire customers throughout bans
Curiosity in decentralized messaging and social platforms has risen since 2025 throughout blackouts, unrest and web restrictions. Exploding Matters knowledge cited within the report confirmed on-line search curiosity in decentralized social media platforms rose 145% over 5 years.
The report additionally pointed to Bitchat, a Bluetooth mesh messaging app that works with out the web. It stated greater than 48,000 customers in Nepal downloaded the app throughout a social media ban in September 2025, whereas Durov stated Telegram bans in Iran drove customers towards VPNs as an alternative of state-backed providers.
