Apple will eventually encrypt almost all of your iCloud data, including backups, which have been a backdoor to iMessages and more. This is a huge step forward for privacy and security, and the FBI is not a fan of the move.
Apple Data Protection – The Ugly Truth
In the latest versions of macOS and iOS, Apple enabled encryption for almost everything in iCloud. Previously, highly sensitive data like your password keychain and your Health data was end-to-end encrypted, but other things like your Photos and iCloud backups were accessible to Apple. That gap has now been closed, but you may not want to dive in all the way just yet.
“Like Lockdown Mode, the new Advanced Data Protection comes with trade-offs. Whether those trade-offs are worth it is a choice I’d like Apple to make,” Martin Algesten, CTO of customer research firm Lookback, told Lifewire via direct message.
Apple’s Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is turned off by default, but it’s a huge boon for anyone who values their privacy, which is to say, everyone. It’s available now to beta users in the US, will roll out to everyone in the US with the release of iOS 16.2 and macOS 13.1, and will come to the rest of the world in 2023.
