In response to a government inquiry in the U.K. about accessing data on Apple devices, the company has pulled the Advanced Data Protection feature from devices held in the U.K. Apple made it clear through a statement sent to TechRepublic that they have never built a backdoor into their products and don’t plan to.
The Home Office recently invoked the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, aiming to find a way to access encrypted data stored under Apple’s Advanced Data Protection. According to The Washington Post, which cited anonymous sources, this request was discussed behind closed doors. The law allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies to gather data, but the U.K. government hasn’t confirmed or denied these claims. It’s actually a criminal offense for them to disclose that they’ve invoked the act.
The BBC added that the government would need to follow a legal process to access any data, likely targeting specific investigations rather than a broad sweep of the population.
Apple’s Advanced Data Protection represents the highest level of privacy the company offers. It keeps users’ data secure even from Apple itself. However, most Apple device users don’t opt into this feature. As of February 21, if a U.K. user hasn’t signed up, they won’t be able to anymore. Instead, they will receive a notification stating, “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”
Existing users will need to switch off the feature manually if they wish to keep using iCloud, and Apple will provide further guidance on this. Other secure Apple services, like iCloud Keychain, Health, iMessage, and FaceTime, will remain unaffected.
