![]() This means that there’s almost no chance of the government ever asking Apple to see copies of iMessage chats that you’ve backed up to iCloud. We’re going to go out on a limb here and assume that none of our readers is involved in illegal activity. Short answer? It’s a personal choice, and it’s definitely a trade-off. Here’s what you’ll need to think about: Should you stop backing up your iMessages to iCloud? From Apple’s point of view, this is one of those times when usability is more important than absolute security. But on the other hand, they also wouldn’t be able to help users who’d lost access to crucial backups because of a forgotten password. On the one hand, they couldn’t give the police access to an iCloud account. If Apple turned on E2EE for everything stored in iCloud, this would mean two things. And they want Apple to be able to help them if they ever forget their password or recovery key. Basically, people want to be able to use iCloud to recover lost data. Some people think that the lack of end-to-end encryption on iMessage backups is a compromise with law enforcement.īut Apple’s official position on the matter has more to do with the end user. The feds have specifically asked Apple not to enable E2EE for messages and other types of data backed up in iCloud. So why doesn’t Apple simply end-to-end encrypt all of the data that gets backed up in iCloud? There are a couple of answers.įirst of all, there has been some speculation that it’s a direct concession to the FBI. Why doesn’t Apple just use E2EE for everything? And that is how they can give law enforcement access to users’ iMessages. This means Apple has the encryption key needed to decrypt the iMessages stored in iCloud. But while iCloud iMessage backups are encrypted, they aren’t end-to-end encrypted. iMessages are backed up to iCloud by default, and so this is how things tend to be set up on most people’s iPhones.(Check out this article for more info about how E2EE messaging apps work). However, the level of encryption is still quite strong. Note that if you’re using iMessage to talk to someone on an Android device, your chats are not E2EE. This is because only you and the person you’re chatting with have the encryption keys required to decrypt those messages. For all practical purposes, it’s not possible for anyone (even Apple) to decrypt iMessages. iMessage is an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messenger, though only when it’s communicating with another iMessage app.This prevents someone from brute-forcing the device - a fact which has led to legal clashes between Apple and the FBI. In addition, you can set up your iPhone to automatically delete itself after 10 failed login attempts. As long as your device has a good passcode, it’s almost impossible for someone to break into it. On an iPhone, all user data on the device is protected by strong encryption.Here’s the summary version of how encryption works on an iPhone, and in iMessages: How encryption works on iOS and in iMessages And when it comes to iMessages, there’s often quite a bit of misunderstanding about what’s encrypted … and what isn’t. Unfortunately, stories like this one can leave iPhone users feeling confused about how encryption actually works on their devices. The story surprised many iPhone users, and left them with more questions than answers: Aren’t my iMessages protected by end-to-end encryption? Doesn’t Apple make encrypted iMessage backups for me automatically? The evidence from their chats led to a number of arrests. The police got a search warrant, and then forced Apple to hand over the iMessages of the suspected drug dealers. Why users are worried about encrypted iMessage backupsĮarlier this month, journalists reported on a 2020 drug trafficking investigation in which law enforcement accessed the suspects’ iCloud accounts.
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