A major flaw in Apple devices could allow hackers to intercept email and other communications that are meant to be encrypted, the company says.

Apple released a fix on Friday for mobile devices running iOS, such as iPhones, iPads and iPods. While many will update automatically, users are advised to run a software update on their Apple devices (Settings > General > Software Update).

Major security flaw: Apple users are being advised to update their software. Credit:Reuters

The company said it will issue a software update "very soon" to cut off the ability of spies and hackers to grab email, financial information and other sensitive data from Mac computers.

Confirming researchers' findings that the security flaw in mobile devices also appears in notebook and desktop machines running Mac OS X, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said: "We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon."