Apple has elected to remove its most advanced, end-to-end encrypted security feature for cloud data in the United Kingdom after the government ordered the company to build a backdoor for accessing customer data.
On Friday, Apple announced that Advanced Data Protection, a stronger form of end-to-end encryption used on a wide variety of user data, is no longer available in the UK for new users. This affects iCloud data storage, device backups, web bookmarks, voice memos, notes, photos, reminders and text message backups, Bloomberg reports.
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in a statement. “ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices.”
Two weeks ago reports surfaced that the UK government had ordered Apple to build a backdoor into customer data globally – which Apple said was “unprecedented overreach by the government,” which the company said meant that “the UK could attempt to secretly veto new user protections globally preventing us from ever offering them to customers.”
I actually wrote about this for ZeroHedge last week.
Should’ve listened to me, UK govt.https://t.co/TeLUy2y1zc https://t.co/0hF5IlTf1a pic.twitter.com/Nq4ZRkEdZr
— Preston Byrne (@prestonjbyrne) February 21, 2025
Customers in the UK who are currently using ADP in the UK will need to manually disable it during an unspecified grace period in order to keep their iCluod accounts, while the company says it will issue additional guidance to affected users.
This would have happened in America if President @realDonaldTrump had not won https://t.co/RMTueGaCaY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2025
According to Bloomberg, pulling the encryption feature rather than building a backdoor is a “clear rebuke of the government’s order.” That said, it may not satisfy UK regulators.
Apple on Friday said that “enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before” and that it “remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.”
The move to pull its most secure encryption technology in the region appears to be an effort from the iPhone maker to appease UK regulators, though it’s plausible the government will determine the company isn’t going far enough. “As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” Apple said. -Bloomberg
UK users who attempt to enable ADP will receive a message on their device that says “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”
As part of its order to Apple, UK authorities demanded access to global user data, and required the company to provide access under the country’s Investigatory Powers Act – a law which grants the government power to force companies to remove encryption under a “technical capability notice.”
The law also makes it illegal for companies to announce when the government has made such a demand.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/21/2025 – 12:25
