Advanced Data Protection (ADP) is an optional iCloud setting that extends end-to-end encryption to additional categories, including backups, photos and notes. Apple’s security guide says the encryption keys for those categories remain with a user’s trusted devices, so Apple cannot decrypt the protected data through its ordinary systems.
Apple’s UK support page says new users can no longer turn on ADP. It also says users who had already enabled the feature cannot have it switched off automatically; Apple would provide them with a period to disable it themselves in order to keep using iCloud. The same page says 15 categories, including iCloud Keychain and Health, remain end-to-end encrypted by default. The support page was published in September 2025 and does not give a deadline for existing users.
The policy followed reports that the UK government had issued Apple a Technical Capability Notice (TCN) under the Investigatory Powers Act. The Washington Post first reported the notice based on people familiar with it. In a later case, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal confirmed that Apple was challenging a government order, but the UK Home Office declined to confirm or deny individual notices. The public record therefore supports the existence of a legal dispute, while the notice’s full terms and scope remain undisclosed.
The practical distinction is between accounts that had ADP enabled and those that did not: Apple says the latter cannot newly add that layer, while existing users retain it until they turn it off under the company’s stated process. This is not a difference between iPhones or a claim that all iCloud data is unencrypted without ADP. Standard Data Protection still encrypts data, but Apple retains keys for more categories; some services remain end-to-end encrypted for everyone. The policy’s long-term treatment of existing UK accounts remains unclear in Apple’s published guidance.