Apple launches fresh legal challenge over UK demand for iCloud data

Encryption dispute marches on

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Apple has launched a legal challenge against the UK government over a renewed demand for access to encrypted iCloud data.

According to the Financial Times, the iPhone maker has filed a complaint with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) after receiving a new legal order requiring access to encrypted cloud backups belonging to British users.

The challenge follows a similar confrontation last year. Ministers withdrew that demand after it triggered diplomatic pressure from Washington and prompted Apple to remove privacy features from the UK.

Challenge targets surveillance powers

According to a court order, Apple lodged its complaint last month in response to what is understood to be a Technical Capability Notice (TCN) issued under the UK's Investigatory Powers Act.

These notices can require technology companies to assist law enforcement and intelligence agencies in accessing customer data during investigations into serious crimes.

Because the notices are secret, recipients are prohibited from publicly confirming their existence or discussing their contents, much like a super-injunction.

Privacy campaigners argue that, in practice, requiring access to data protected by Apple's Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system amounts to demanding a "backdoor" into end-to-end encrypted cloud backups.

With ADP enabled, iCloud data can only be decrypted by the customer, meaning even Apple cannot access it.

The company has repeatedly maintained that creating any mechanism to bypass encryption would weaken security for all users rather than only those targeted by investigators.

Dispute resumes after previous standoff

It is about a year since Apple and the Home Office last clashed over encrypted iCloud backups.

In early 2025, the government issued a secret order seeking access to encrypted customer data, when Apple responded by withdrawing its ADP feature for UK users.

US President Donald Trump criticised the UK's approach, comparing it to policies associated with China.

The original notice was eventually dropped, but reports later indicated UK authorities issued a revised TCN in October.

Unlike the earlier order, the latest demand apparently applies only to British users and not to customers in the United States.

Apple's latest complaint is understood to challenge the government's authority to issue such notices under the Investigatory Powers Act.

The tribunal has notified Privacy International of Apple's complaint because the human rights organisation, alongside campaign group Liberty, is already pursuing its own legal challenge against the government's use of TCNs.

A case management hearing has been scheduled for next month to determine how the related cases should proceed.

Privacy International described the parallel legal challenges as significant for protecting both privacy and digital security.

For its part, the government argues that law enforcement agencies must also be able to access communications when it is "necessary and proportionate" to investigate terrorism, serious crime and child sexual abuse.

It added that the Investigatory Powers Act includes judicial oversight and legal safeguards.

Apple has consistently rejected the idea of creating special access to encrypted data.

When it withdrew Advanced Data Protection from the UK in 2025, the company said it had "never built a backdoor or master key" into any of its products and "never will", adding that strengthening end-to-end encryption had become more important than ever.