UK drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption

The United Kingdom will no longer force Apple to provide backdoor access to secure user data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside @POTUS and @VP, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard posted to X on Monday. “As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”

This announcement follows the UK issuing a secret order in January this year, demanding Apple provide it with backdoor access to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple pulled the ability for new users in the UK to sign up to its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud storage offering, and challenged the order, winning the right to publicly discuss the case in April. Earlier this year, US officials started examining whether the UK order had violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which bars the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.

This pressure from the US sparked reports last month that Britain would walk back the demands it issued to Apple, with one unnamed UK official telling the Financial Times that the UK “had its back against the wall,” and was looking for a way out. While it’s unclear if the UK would negotiate new terms with Apple that avoid implicating the data of US citizens, an unnamed US official told The Financial Times that such negotiations would not be faithful to the new agreement.

With the order now reportedly removed, it’s unclear if Apple will restore access to its ADP service in the UK. We have reached out to Apple for comment. The UK Home Office has refused to comment on the situation.