Overview
- Apple filed a fresh legal complaint in July at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to challenge a Technical Capability Notice issued under the Investigatory Powers Act that seeks access to iCloud backups for UK users.
- Apple removed or disabled its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK customers in early 2025 rather than redesign the service to allow government access to end‑to‑end encrypted backups.
- The original January 2025 notice initially sought global access but was narrowed after US objections, with a revised, UK‑only notice reportedly issued in autumn 2025.
- Privacy International and Liberty have parallel challenges and the IPT has scheduled a case‑management hearing for September 2026 to coordinate the complaints.
- Observers warn that a ruling compelling a backdoor would create a technical and legal template other governments could seek to copy, raising security risks and compliance conflicts for global tech firms.