According to US National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard, the UK has removed the demand for special access to Apple's cloud systems, or “backdoors,” following negotiations with the Trump administration.
“As a result, the UK has agreed to remove its mission to allow Apple to access protected, encrypted data for American citizens and provide a “back door” that has been violated by our civil liberties.”
Over the past few months, I have worked closely with my UK partners. @potus and @VPto ensure that private data from Americans remains private and that our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.
As a result, the UK agreed to remove the mission…
– dni tulsi gabbard (@dnigabbard) August 19, 2025
This is the latest saga that essentially requires a backdoor, where the UK government has secretly seen it secretly request Apple to allow authorities access, and has requested access to opt-in security features anywhere in the world, especially those who turn on advanced data protection (or ADP). ADP turns on end-to-end encryption for iCloud. This means that only users can access files stored on Apple's cloud servers.
The existence of legal demand was first reported by the Washington Post in February. This was done under the British Research Power Act 2016, also known as the Snoopers Charter. This request sparked rage and condemnation from privacy and security experts around the world. He argued that if the UK government gets what it wants, it will weaken global privacy and even with the technology of other companies, it will open doors for more governments to make similar demands.
Apple first responded by removing ADP from the UK. This means that new users were unable to turn it on. The company also said it would provide guidance to existing users who “eventually need to disable this security feature.”
In the meantime, Apple also reportedly challenged a backdoor mandate in court.
Apple and the UK Home Office, which launched requests on behalf of the UK government, did not respond to requests for comment.
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Olivia Coleman, spokesman for the US Director of National Intelligence, mentioned a February letter to Senator Wyden and Biggs.
Apple previously told TechCrunch that the company “has never built a backdoor or a master key” for any of its products or services.