Apple Finally Will Let You Encrypt iCloud Backups. Here’s Why That’s Important.
Apple will let people encrypt most data backed up to iCloud from their iPhones and iPads, the company announced on Wednesday. The feature will be available in the US later this month and around the world in 2023.
Previously, Apple only encrypted sensitive information, such as people’s health data, credit card information, and passwords. But the new feature, known as Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, will allow users to encrypt device backups, which contain a copy of most personal data on an iPhone and iPad, in addition to notes, voice memos, photographs, and more, "end-to-end".
Encrypting data end-to-end means that the digital key required to unlock it is only stored locally on someone’s device, as opposed to on a server somewhere. No one, including hackers or the company the...
