- The United Kingdom has agreed to drop his request for an encryption back door in Apple’s iCloud, according to the US Director of National Intelligence
- However, the power of undermining encryption remains in the British law under the law of investigative powers
- Apple killed iCloud’s end-to-end encryption feature in the UK in February and then challenged the order in court
The United Kingdom has agreed to settle back on his request to create an encryption back door in Apple’s iCloud system for authorities to access.
The US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed the British U-turn in a post of X on Monday, August 18, 2025, adding that such a back door “would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data from US citizens and interventions on our civil freedom rights.”
While welcoming the decision, experts with digital rights are not quite ready to call it a victory. The power to undermine encryption remains in the British law and fuel for the call for a change.
UK’s U-turn on iCloud’s backdoor
US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, reportedly strongly against the British order, warning against “systemic vulnerabilities” that such a back door could create.
While not a default feature once enabled, Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) provides an additional layer of protection across all iCloud storage data using end-to-end encryption technology, which means not even Apple can access the files. It is an added measure of protection that the British have not been able to spend for months.
A British Government spokesman told Pakinomist that both countries have worked together to tackle security threats and ensure that citizens’ privacy remains protected.
Apple has not yet share more details about how and when the ADP is set to be reintroduced to British users.
“A welcome step”
US officials were far from the only party concerned about the negative influence that a back door in Apple’s advanced encryption could have had on people’s privacy and security.
Over 100 Internet leaders, academics, organizations and businesses Created the alarm just days after the authorities issued the back door order of the encryption.
Encryption is a technology responsible for preventing unauthorized access to user data. Specifically, the best VPN and Secure Messaging apps use end-to-end encryption to ensure online communication remains private between the sender and the recipient. A level of protection that is increasingly becoming crucial, as large cyber attacks such as salt typhoon attack are now the norm.
Therefore, digital rights groups have welcomed Britain’s decision to return to Apple’s request for encryption back door.
🚨 The Home Office reportedly agreed to run its demand that Apple gives the government spying on encrypted messages. This is a welcome step towards the protection of privacy for millions of users in the UK. “We are repeating our calls in the home office to drop its use of technical … pic.twitter.com/5sre83zhfvAugust 19, 2025
In a post on X, the temporary director of Big Brother Watch, Rebecca Vincent, said: “This is a welcome step towards the protection of privacy for millions of users in Britain.”
That said, the power of issuing similar encryption back door still remains an opportunity in the British law under the Law on Investigation Power.
This is why a change in these powers according to experts is what should come next.
“We are repeating our call to the Home Office to drop its use of technical capacity messages (TCNs) that seek to break encryption, which represents a serious threat to our ability to communicate privately,” said again Vincent, claiming that the Investigative Public Law “is unfit for purpose and should be changed to protect privacy without delay.”
