On February 21, 2025, Apple discontinued its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service in the UK, ending end-to-end encryption for iCloud data in the region. This move came after a secret government order issued in January 2025 under the Investigatory Powers Act, which demanded that Apple implement a backdoor for UK security officials to access encrypted data globally. Instead of complying with this request, Apple opted to remove the ADP feature from the UK market, reaffirming its commitment against creating encryption backdoors.

This decision will notably impact UK users. Current ADP subscribers must manually disable the feature during the designated grace period to keep their iCloud accounts active, since the change cannot be applied automatically [1][2]. As a result, they will lose the highest level of protection for their iCloud data—covering photos, notes, message backups, and device backups [3][4]. However, several services will still benefit from end-to-end encryption, including:

• iMessage
• FaceTime
• Health data
• iCloud Keychain [5][6]

Moreover, new UK users will no longer have the option to enable ADP on their accounts [4].

Apple has indicated that guidance on managing accounts and alternative data protection options will be provided to affected users in the coming weeks [1][2].

Citations:
[1] https://9to5mac.com/2025/02/21/apple-removing-end-to-encryption-uk/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/apple-pulls-icloud-end-to-end-encryption-feature-for-uk-users-after-government-demanded-backdoor/
[3] https://www.gbnews.com/tech/apple-icloud-advanced-data-protection-uk-government
[4] https://www.computerworld.com/article/3830376/apple-terminates-uk-data-protection-after-government-overreach.html
[5] https://gizmodo.com/apple-says-no-to-uk-backdoor-order-will-pull-e2e-cloud-encryption-instead-2000566862
[6] https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/we-will-never-build-a-backdoor-apple-kills-its-iclouds-end-to-end-encryption-feature-in-the-uk