UK scraps Apple ‘backdoor’ for American users, US spy chief says

Apple Inc. will no longer be forced to provide a so-called backdoor to American users’ data to the UK government, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Monday in a post on X.

The iPhone maker had been compelled by a UK order in January to disable its most advanced encryption for user information stored in its cloud services, as authorities sought access to global user data, which may include communications like voice memos and device backups.

Gabbard said the UK had agreed to drop the mandate for that backdoor, “to ensure…