Claim dismissed

According to a court order obtained by Computer Weekly, Apple and the Home Office have agreed that Apple’s appeal should no longer go ahead.  

“This claim is dismissed on the basis of a change in circumstances which, the tribunal has decided, means the claim should no longer proceed,” the order on 6 October stated.

We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP are not available to our customers in the UK, given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy

Apple did not comment on the withdrawal of its legal case and declined to say whether it would issue a new legal challenge against the Home Office’s revised order.

However, a company spokesperson confirmed that Apple would still not be able to offer its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service, which it withdrew from the UK rather than comply with the Home Office’s order – to its UK customers.

“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP are not available to our customers in the UK, given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” the spokesperson added.

Backdoor order

The row between Apple and the Home Office came after the government issued a secret technical capability notice (TCN) to Apple in January, requiring it to provide warranted backdoor access to messages and data stored by Apple users worldwide.

The notice extended the ability of UK law enforcement to access encrypted data stored by users on Apple’s iCloud to include users of its secure ADP service, which is fully end-to-end encrypted.

The government argued that it needed to be able to obtain warrants to access individuals’ private encrypted data on Apple’s iCloud service, including data protected by ADP, in the interests of national security and tackling crime.

Apple has opposed the order on the grounds that it needs to offer its users the “highest levels of security” for their personal data to protect their privacy and secure them against data breaches and hacking.

The Home Office’s actions sparked a diplomatic row with the US, after the existence of the secret TCN order was leaked to the Washington Post.

US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard publicly raised concerns that the UK’s order against Apple could “undermine Americans’ privacy and civil liberties”. President Donald Trump described the move as “something that you hear about with China”.

Legal action by NGOs expected to continue

A separate case brought against the Home Office by Privacy International, Liberty and two individuals, which challenges the lawfulness of the technical capability notice, is expected to continue.

The IPT has refused an application by the campaign groups to disclose the terms of any revised TCN issued by the government in the light of agreements reached with the US, according to documents obtained by Computer Weekly.

The IPT ruled that although public notices issued by President Trump, the vice-president and the US director of national security implied that the Home Office had served a new TCN on Apple, neither Apple nor the Home Office had publicly confirmed or denied that this was the case.

The IPT is due to hear the case on the basis of “assumed facts” – which allow the case to be heard in open court – in January 2026.

According to the court documents, the TCN allows the interception of communications and multiple categories of data stored in Apple’s iCloud backup service.

It requires Apple to remove electronic protection applied to the data where it is “reasonably practicable” and to provide access to data stored on Apple’s Advanced Data Protection and iCloud services under a warrant.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal rejected government demands for complete secrecy over Apple’s legal challenge against a Home Office order, following applications by 10 media organisations, including Computer Weekly.

Apple decided it ‘was unlikely to win’

Bernard Keenan, a lecturer in law at UCL and a specialist in the Investigatory Powers Act, said that the withdrawal of Apple’s appeal by mutual consent, indicated that Apple and the UK government have come to an arrangement acceptable for both sides.

“If reports that the TCN has been limited to UK users are accurate, then the government will have maintained the capability to intercept communications sent or stored via encrypted Apple services in the UK, while Apple will have decided that they are unlikely to win an appeal against an order in those terms in court,” he added.

Apple did not comment on the decision to discontinue its case.

An Apple spokesperson said it was “gravely disappointed” not to be able to offer Apple customers its secure ADP service in the UK.

“Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before. Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom,” the spokesperson said.

“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,” the spokesperson added.

ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns the data on their own trusted devices. Apple, which does not have access to ADP encryption keys, is unable to read messages stored on the service.

A Home Office spokesperson said, “we do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”