The most well-known instance of the latter category was a February 2016 court case in the United States District Court for the Central District of California . The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) wanted Apple to create and electronically sign new software that would enable the FBI to unlock a work-issued iPhone 5C it recovered from one of the shooters who , in a December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino , California , killed 14 people and injured 22 . The two attackers later died in a shootout with police , having first destroyed their personal phones . The work phone was recovered intact but was locked with a four-digit password and was set to eliminate all its data after ten failed password attempts . Apple declined to create the software , and a hearing was scheduled for March 22 . However , a day before the hearing was supposed to happen , the government obtained a delay , saying they had found a third party able to assist in unlocking the iPhone and , on March 28 , it announced that the FBI had unlocked the iPhone and withdrew its request . In March 2018 , the '' Los Angeles Times '' later reported " the FBI eventually found that Farook 's phone had information only about work and revealed nothing about the plot . " In another case in Brooklyn , a magistrate judge ruled that the All Writs Act could not be used to compel Apple to unlock an iPhone . The government appealed the ruling , but then dropped the case on April 22 after it was given the correct passcode
a December 2015 terrorist attack
2015 San Bernardino attack
FBI–Apple encryption dispute