According to an article in '' The New York Times '' titled " Signaling Post-Snowden Era , New iPhone Locks Out N.S.A. " , Apple has developed a new encryption method for iOS 8 , described as " so deep that Apple could no longer comply with government warrants asking for customer information to be extracted from devices . " Throughout 2015 , prosecutors in the United States argued for the U.S. government to be able to compel decryption of iPhone contents . After the 2015 San Bernardino attack , the FBI recovered an iPhone 5C that was issued to one of the shooters by his employer , and iCloud backups of that phone from a month and a half before the shooting . ( The shooters had destroyed their personal phones . ) The U.S. government attempted to obtain a court order under the All Writs Act compelling Apple to produce an IPSW file that would allow investigators to brute force the device passcode . Tim Cook responded on the company 's website , outlining a need for encryption , arguing that if they produce a backdoor for one device , it would inevitably be used to compromise the privacy of other iPhone users . On February 19 , Apple communicated to journalists that the password for the Apple ID for the iPhone had been changed within a day of the government obtaining it , preventing Apple from producing a workaround that would only target older devices . '' See '' FBI – Apple encryption dispute
2015 San Bernardino attack
2015 San Bernardino attack
IPhone