Apple pulled the plug on its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature in the UK after facing pressure to offer authorities backdoor access to encrypted information the function protected.
Various outlets reported the iPhone maker detailed the demise of the feature to dodge revised legislation, which would have forced it to open access to the end-to-end encryption used for its iCloud service.
BBC News and The Independent each described Apple’s decision as “unprecedented”.
Apple resisted the backdoor requests, arguing it would leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks.
In a statement, Apple explained new users would not have access to ADP and current customers would “eventually need to disable” the security function.
It expressed grave disappointment, pointing to “the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy”, which Apple argues makes end-to-end encryption “more urgent than ever before”.
The company pledged to restore protections for UK users if allowed in future.
“As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”
Company information indicates ADP is an optional setting which ensures “a majority” of users’ iCloud data can “only be decrypted from your trusted devices”.
Apple has butted heads with various policing authorities over its security and protections for some time, most notably in its home market where it clashed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over assisting in criminal probes by unlocking iPhones.