As the UK government presses again for unwarranted access to private user data, Apple has issued another complaint asking the country's independent judicial body to intervene.
In 2024, the UK reworked its laws to give it the authority to not only legally but also secretly demand Apple help it spy on iPhone users around the world. Following US complaints, the UK backed down, only to try again in October 2025. Now according to the Financial Times, Apple has filed a new complaint with the country's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT).
This is the judiciary body that Apple applied to during its original dispute with the UK over this topic. It's not clear now how far Apple's complaint went before the UK was separately forced to abandon its demands.
Apple's new filing was reportedly submitted to the IPT in July 2026. It's in response to the UK's use of what is called a "technical capability notice," which while it also demands a backdoor, it would ostensibly be one that did not affect Americans.
Whatever the UK's attempts to mollify the US over this issue, however, the fact remains that any backdoor into iOS would be exploited by bad actors. Access to user data of non-Americans would invariably uncover US data that has been shared with them, too.
So this latest move by the UK is identical to the first attempt in all but name. Neither Apple nor the UK's Home Office is legally allowed to comment publicly on the case, but both sides have now issued general statements.
"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," said an Apple spokesperson.
Apple's argument will once again be that any backdoor weakens iPhone security for all users. The UK's position has been that such backdoors do not imperil security or privacy, although it has never offered an explanation of why it believes this.
In response to the current complaint, the UK government refused to comment directly on what it calls "operational matters" However, it did repeat similar claims it has made before about the situation.
"The UK supports strong encryption and robust privacy protections," it said, "but it is also vital that law enforcement can access communications when necessary and proportionate to protect the public from terrorism, serious crime, and child sexual abuse."
Apple is not the only company to object to these technical capability notices. The human rights group Privacy International also launched a complaint, and its case was due to be heard in December 2025.
It's not clear yet whether that case went ahead. At present there is no indication of when Apple's filing may be ruled on.
This all seems like overreach by the UK and one that should easily be defeated either in court or by worldwide political pressure. Previously the US has argued that the UK weakening such privacy would mean intelligence services having to withhold information from the country for security reasons.
Even so, a direct result of the UK's actions was Apple switching off its Advanced Data Protection end-to-end encryption feature in the UK rather than add a backdoor to it. Consequently UK users already do have weakened security because of the government.
Apple's spokesperson has now added that the company is "gravely disappointed" that it still cannot restore the Advanced Data Protection feature for the UK.
Update: August 4, 09:00 Updated with comments from Apple and the UK government.
