Two-tier encryption in the UK: identical iPhones, different iCloud protection

Two people in the United Kingdom can own identical iPhones, pay Apple for the same services and still get different protection for their iCloud data. One has Advanced Data Protection (ADP), Apple's strongest iCloud encryption setting, switched on; the other cannot enable it at all. The split traces back to a secret order the UK government gave Apple in January 2025, reported by The Washington Post on 7 February 2025.

From San Bernardino to a secret notice

After the attack in San Bernardino in December 2015, which killed 14 people and wounded 22, the FBI seized the attacker's iPhone 5C but could not unlock it, and a court order required Apple to write software that would bypass the device's passcode protections. Apple refused, and Tim Cook called the tool the "equivalent of cancer" and a potential "master key" for hundreds of millions of devices. A third party later opened the phone.

What the UK demanded

The power behind such demands is the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. One of its mechanisms, the Technical Capability Notice, is a legal instruction requiring a communications provider to build or maintain the ability to meet future warrants. A Judicial Commissioner must approve it, and the recipient is barred from revealing it. According to The Post, the notice issued in January 2025 asked Apple for access to encrypted iCloud data belonging not only to UK users but to Apple users worldwide.

Two tiers of iCloud encryption

iCloud already encrypts 14 data categories end to end by default, including iCloud Keychain, Health and Messages. ADP raises the total to 23 by adding iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes and iCloud Drive. Apple holds no keys for those categories, so it cannot hand over the contents even when ordered to. Rather than build the capability the notice sought, Apple withdrew ADP for new UK users on 21 February 2025 and said it was "gravely disappointed". Existing accounts keep the feature, since only a user's trusted devices can change the setting.

Where the case stands

The original demand was global; late in 2025 it was replaced by a narrower notice covering UK citizens only, after pressure from Washington. In July 2026 Apple filed a fresh challenge at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Republican Congressman Warren Davidson urged the tribunal on 11 September 2026 to open its proceedings. A week later The Daily Telegraph reported that Apple had asked for the gag order to be lifted, which lawyers for Liberty and Privacy International called "farcical".