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Apple challenges UK government’s latest demand for iCloud backdoor: report
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This is a follow-up to a year-long legal dispute over whether the U.K. can compel a major cloud provider to break the encryption that protects its users' backups. The outcome will affect whether Apple can continue offering Advanced Data Protection to U.K. customers and sets a precedent for how governments can demand access to end-to-end-encrypted cloud data. Engineers running encrypted services need to watch this because a ruling against Apple could force architectural changes or regional feature rollbacks.
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Only TechCrunch is carrying this story, reporting that Apple is challenging a new U.K. technical capability notice at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, citing the Financial Times as its source.
The dispute centers on access to iCloud backups protected by Advanced Data Protection, which uses end-to-end encryption that even Apple cannot read.
The challenge follows an earlier 2025 order that was withdrawn after reported U.S. administration intervention and that led Apple to disable Advanced Data Protection for U.K. users.
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