Warning - Fake iOS Message Saying iPhone Storage Full

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Warning - Fake iOS Message Saying iPhone Storage Full

I have an iPhone 11 Pro with 256 GB of storage and was currently running iOS 16. I knew that I had at least 130 GB still free.

All of the sudden out of nowhere while I’m scrolling through Instagram I feel hesitation, as I cannot move the pictures or stories …. and all of a sudden a message pops up your iPhone storage is full. Also at the same time I received a text message at 10:44 PM saying hello from an unknown number.

I immediately deleted Instagram and Facebook and updated to iOS 16.0.2 that seems to fix things , what was funny is I didn’t click on the fake storage is full notification, but rather went to settings -> general and about-> and I had 130gb still free.

I fear that if I had clicked on that fake storage is full notification, someone could’ve gained control of my iPhone…

I’ve been using Apple products for over 20 years and have a very close relationship with Apple.

I feel like someone was trying to remotely take over my device… I’ve never seen a fake system alert before. Has anybody else seen this recently ?? Is this one of the security problems Apple is pushing out update to alleviate w iOS 16 and updating to iOS 16.0.2 ???

Today’s date of September 27, 2022

Posted on Sep 27, 2022 08:42 PM

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Answer 1

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deggie

Level 10

167,489 points

Sep 27, 2022 08:51 PM in response to Smittayzone

These have been cropping up today, if you click on it you will be taken to a page to acquire Smart Cleaner.

If you see it again use the App Switcher and remove Safari then go to Settings > Safari > Erase History and tap on it and erase the history. Finally restart your iPhone.

These were more prevalent about 4 years ago, this is the first time I've seen people reporting it in quite awhile.

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Answer 2

Smittayzone Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 27, 2022 08:58 PM in response to deggie

Thank you so much! I thought I was going crazy! My wife did not believe me and I work for a company that works directly with Apple. I am super proficient with iOS and Apple products and couldn’t believe I got a fake iOS message. I’ll erase safari history and restart my iPhone !! You are the best.

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Answer 3

Smittayzone Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 27, 2022 09:10 PM in response to deggie

Deggie - Also what was scary is it wasn’t a crappy graphic. It looked just like an iOS system alert in iOS 16.

I also forgot to mention that my iPhone almost completely froze and was reacting about 15 seconds later after I would tap an icon on the screen — how could that have slowed down my system like that?? It did actually make it feel like storage was full. These attacks are getting super sophisticated.

Have you heard anything like I specifically mentioned above?? I had to do a hard reset and immediately download iOS 16.0.2

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Answer 4

deggie

Level 10

167,489 points

Sep 27, 2022 09:13 PM in response to Smittayzone

I've seen it, people who have been getting it have been posting it here. It is a good copy of the Settings icon but the font is not correct for Apple.

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