By Edith Hancock

Apple removed its Advanced Data Protection feature in the U.K. after the government reportedly requested access to user data stored on its iCloud service.

The company said on Friday that the service--which ensures only users can access files such as photos and documents that are encrypted on Apple's iCloud storage--will no longer be available to new users and current U.K. users will need to eventually disable the security feature.

"We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the U.K. given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy," a spokesperson for the company said, saying that securing personal data access in the cloud with end-to-end encryption is "more urgent than ever."

The move comes after The Washington Post and BBC reported earlier this month that U.K. government officials asked Apple to create a so-called back door that gives them access to content any Apple user uploads to the cloud.

"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," they 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."

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2025 12:43 ET (17:43 GMT)

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