--- title: Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud | daily.dev description: Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud provides end-to-end encryption so that only trusted devices hold the keys, but the UK government forced Apple to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud | daily.dev og:description: Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud provides end-to-end encryption so that only trusted devices hold the keys, but the UK government forced Apple to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8MEUxDpof.png og:image:alt: Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud **[David Bombal](https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud provides end-to-end encryption so that only trusted devices hold the keys, but the UK government forced Apple to remove this option for new UK users rather than build a backdoor. The author argues this shows cloud storage is vulnerable to changing laws and government pressure, and advocates storing private, confidential files locally on self-owned hardware such as a Synology NAS instead of trusting cloud providers. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Apple remove Advanced Data Protection for iCloud in the UK? The UK government demanded backdoor access to encrypted iCloud data, and rather than comply by weakening encryption for all users, Apple chose to withdraw Advanced Data Protection for new users in the UK. This means new UK iCloud users can no longer get end-to-end encryption that keeps even Apple from reading their cloud data. _Anyone weighing cloud versus local storage for sensitive files can track policy shifts like this on daily.dev._ ### What does Advanced Data Protection for iCloud actually do? Advanced Data Protection is Apple's highest level of iCloud security, giving trusted devices sole access to the encryption keys for most iCloud data so it is end-to-end encrypted. With it enabled, not even Apple can read the protected data, though availability depends on the country or region. _Developers building privacy-sensitive apps can follow encryption feature changes like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The UK Is Still Trying to Backdoor Encryption for Apple Users](https://daily.dev/posts/the-uk-is-still-trying-to-backdoor-encryption-for-apple-users-oei8yywht) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Dropbox user lost everything and proved why you need a NAS, not cloud storage](https://daily.dev/posts/a-dropbox-user-lost-everything-and-proved-why-you-need-a-nas-not-cloud-storage-xwd2s31gr) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#encryption](https://daily.dev/tags/encryption) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof"},"datePublished":"2026-09-02T14:08:58.070Z","dateModified":"2026-09-02T14:09:16.387Z","description":"Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud provides end-to-end encryption so that only trusted devices hold the keys, but the UK government forced Apple to...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-zbUf2EGzWg/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-zbUf2EGzWg/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"David Bombal","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"David Bombal","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Dz6oUxSb--/f_auto/v1710503980/logos/davidbombal","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"apple,privacy,encryption","timeRequired":"PT3M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud","description":"Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud provides end-to-end encryption so that only trusted devices hold the keys, but the UK government forced Apple to...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-zbUf2EGzWg/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-02T14:08:58.070Z","duration":"PT3M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/8MEUxDpof","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-zbUf2EGzWg"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"David Bombal","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/davidbombal"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why I Keep Private Files Off the Cloud"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-keep-private-files-off-the-cloud-8meuxdpof#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Apple remove Advanced Data Protection for iCloud in the UK?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The UK government demanded backdoor access to encrypted iCloud data, and rather than comply by weakening encryption for all users, Apple chose to withdraw Advanced Data Protection for new users in the UK. 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