Apple has started sending some users push notifications warning that they have been targeted with specific malware. No specific information about the threat Apple detected is available. While multiple iOS attacks were released in spring of 2026, they all target much older versions of iOS and older hardware versions.
Users in 110 countries have received notifications recently, warning them they may have been targeted or already impacted by malware such. Apple typically uses the crash reporting mechanism for system apps to track new attack trends. The majority of users will likely never see an alert from Apple because malware with state-level capabilities like the Pegasus family is extremely expensive to develop. However, commercial availability means that some governments have deployed them against political opponents, protesters, human rights lawyers, and journalists.
If Apple pushes a security alert, it will show up as an email and a standard system notification, but also as a notification inside the Settings application. While email and notifications can be spoofed as part of phishing attempts, to date there is nothing which can generate false alerts inside Settings.
Almost universally in these cases, Apple recommends enabling “Lockdown Mode“, which adds extra protection to devices at the cost of decreased battery life and slower performance. Lockdown mode disables custom fonts on web pages, accelerated JavaScript, restricts message attachments over SMS and iMessage, and disables other common paths used by malware to steal data. Android devices offer a similar feature since Android 15 that is less comprehensive but can still provide additional safeguards for users directly at risk.
