UK — Apple launched a legal complaint at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal last month challenging the British government’s powers to issue technical capability notices under the UK Investigatory Powers Act. The dispute centers on a second technical capability notice the UK government issued to Apple in October that requests access to encrypted iCloud data belonging to British users.

The new technical capability notice does not apply to American users, distinguishing it from previous demands. The UK government withdrew its original demand for access to data from UK and US customers last year.

Advanced Data Protection is an end-to-end encryption feature that makes data inaccessible to anyone other than the customer, including Apple. Apple withdrew UK customers’ access to its Advanced Data Protection programme in January 2025 following the initial regulatory pressure.

Apple said the removal of Advanced Data Protection would make users more vulnerable to data breaches from bad actors and other threats to customer privacy. The company has stated it has never built a backdoor or master key to any of its products or services and never would.

The Investigatory Powers Act compels companies to provide information to law enforcement agencies working on cases including terrorism and child sexual abuse. The Home Office has maintained that the Investigatory Powers Act contains robust safeguards and is used only when absolutely necessary.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is Britain's independent judicial body which investigates complaints about state surveillance. On 7 April 2025, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal issued a public judgment summarising its findings following the hearing on 14 March 2025, stating that Apple had made a complaint to the Tribunal regarding the Secretary of State's powers to make Technical Capability Notices under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, according to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

On 7 April 2025, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal issued a case management order directing the UK Government to agree 'assumed facts' with Apple, which are to form the basis of a seven-day hearing to be scheduled in early 2026, according to Privacy International. The Tribunal sent an order giving notice of the Apple complaint to Privacy International.

Privacy International and Liberty had previously launched a separate complaint against technical capability notices at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Privacy International and Liberty requested that Apple’s claims be held in public given the public interest in the matter.

A case management hearing to discuss how the parallel complaints should be handled was scheduled for next month. "We are happy to learn that Apple is once again challenging the UK’s regime of secret orders," a Privacy International spokesperson said. "While we don’t know the substance of Apple’s claim, if it relates to the previously reported orders aimed at undermining the security of Apple’s iCloud storage, then Apple’s claim, alongside ours and Liberty’s, is crucially important to preserving all of our privacy and security."

Why It Matters

The outcome will determine whether the UK government can compel technology firms to bypass end-to-end encryption, a capability Apple states would leave users vulnerable to data breaches. This legal challenge runs parallel to complaints from civil liberties groups seeking public scrutiny of secret orders under the Investigatory Powers Act. A ruling here sets a precedent for how state surveillance powers interact with customer privacy safeguards in cases involving terrorism and child sexual abuse investigations.