Britain has agreed to withdraw a notice that would have compelled Apple Inc. to build a “back door” into its encrypted services, a move that would have given U.K. authorities access to data belonging to American citizens. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the decision on 19 Aug., saying the accord protects U.S. civil liberties and ends a months-long dispute between London and Washington. Gabbard said the agreement followed negotiations involving President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. A U.K. government spokesperson, while declining to confirm any deal, said London continues to balance security needs with privacy safeguards in cooperation with the United States. The contested order was issued in January under the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act and sought to force Apple to disable or bypass end-to-end encryption on iCloud backups worldwide. Apple responded by removing its iCloud Advanced Data Protection feature for British users in February and filed a challenge at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. U.S. lawmakers warned in May that the British demand could violate the bilateral CLOUD Act and create vulnerabilities exploitable by hackers or authoritarian regimes. American officials were reviewing whether the notice breached the data-sharing agreement between the two countries. Apple, which has long resisted government requests to weaken its security architecture, did not immediately comment on the reported U.K. reversal. It is unclear when—or if—the company will restore Advanced Data Protection for users in the United Kingdom.