Alice and Bill, both UK residents with identical iPhones and iCloud subscriptions, face different levels of data protection. Alice enabled Advanced Data Protection before Apple withdrew it for new UK users in February 2025. Bill missed the cutoff and cannot activate the feature.

This divergence stems from the UK government’s issuance of a Technical Capability Notice under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, reportedly demanding Apple weaken iCloud encryption. The move echoes past conflicts, including the 2015 San Bernardino attack, where the FBI sought Apple’s help to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone. Tim Cook refused, calling such a tool “too dangerous to create” and a “master key” for all devices. The FBI eventually used Cellebrite to access the device.

The UK’s secret order, revealed by The Washington Post, highlights ongoing tension between national security and user privacy, with Apple gagged from discussing the notice.