This could be the biggest Apple update of 2025, surpassing anything that comes from the release of iOS 26 and even iPhone 17. It seems that rumors the U.S. has forced the U.K. to end its demand for Apple to compromise its own encryption are real.
“Over the past few months,” Tulsi Gabbard posted on X, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside @POTUS and @VP, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.”
“As a result,” America’s Director of National Intelligence confirmed late on Monday, “the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”
If this pans out, it ends the saga of the secret / not secret furor over a National Security directive placed on Apple by the U.K. government to provide access to fully encrypted iCloud data. That resulted in the iPhone-mazker dropped its most secure encryption in the U.K. for new users and a widespread backlash amongst the privacy lobby.
This comes as the other privacy furor of 2025 — age verification for online content — has resulted in a raft of complaints about the implications on a free and open internet.
But the encryption back door is much more serious. There’s no such thing as selective compromises when it comes to encryption. Any back door of any sort can be exploited by bad actors, and Apple has been right to dig its heels in. It has been joined by Meta and others in the fight to keep privacy data private.
This is a breaking story and we await confirmation and further details.
