United Kingdom drops plan to impose a backdoor in Apple’s iCloud

The White House is said to have secured this concession from the British government.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of U.S. Intelligence, announced on August 19, 2025, that the United Kingdom was abandoning its demand that Apple add a backdoor to iCloud. This request was based on the 2016 British law, the Investigatory Powers Act. The legislation requires tech companies to grant U.K. authorities access to their encrypted data, under certain conditions.

Apple has always refused to install a backdoor on its products, citing security and privacy reasons. In February 2025, the tech giant even chose to disable data encryption on iCloud in the United Kingdom in order to sidestep the authorities’ request.

According to Tulsi Gabbard, the White House negotiated with the British government over the summer of 2025 to persuade it to drop this demand. The effort is said to have been successful, although neither Apple nor London has confirmed it.