Protecting Sensitive Content: Anonymising App Notifications

In mobile operating systems such as iOS 27, incoming push notifications can be automatically read and forwarded via built-in automations (Shortcuts).
To prevent the uncontrolled leakage of confidential information via these interfaces, a new configuration option is available for administrators.

The content of push notifications can be configured in the organisation’s settings:

  • Show event name in notifications: If disabled, the specific name of the event is replaced by the placeholder “New alert”.
  • Show alarm text in notifications: If disabled, the detailed content is replaced by the standard text “A new alert has been triggered”.

For data protection reasons, the push services of mobile operating systems have never transmitted confidential plain-text data; instead, they only transmit internal IDs. The actual content remains protected within the system and is only securely loaded in the notification or when the app is opened.
The use of neutral placeholders now ensures that operating system functions, such as Shortcuts on the iPhone, cannot intercept any usable information.

Marvin Menzerath
Marvin Menzerath | Head of Engineering
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