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Mar 22, 2024 · Apple’s walled garden has been built on privacy, security and trust, but there’s a gaping hole in that wall—an iMessage-shaped hole. Security experts—myself included—have been calling ...
Apr 27, 2024 · But while we can speculate about Apple’s motivations for peripherals and services, when it comes to iMessage, there’s no mystery at all: Apple kept it locked down for a decade to keep iOS ...
- Allison Johnson
Jan 6, 2024 · Apple’s problem, though, is that Google has taken charge of RCS since then, seeking to create an iMessage lookalike. And that now includes end-to-end encryption by default—just like iMessage ...
- IMessage Uses End-To-End Encryption to Send and Receive Messages
- Icloud Backups Are Enabled by Default and Aren't E2E Encrypted
- Why Aren't Icloud Backups End-To-End encrypted?
- Messages in Icloud vs. Icloud Backup of Messages
- How to Ensure That Apple Can't See Your iMessage
- Doesn't Your iPhone Back Up Signal Data to iCloud, Too?
- How to Make Encrypted iPhone Backups
Apple's iMessage for iPhone, iPad, and Mac always uses end-to-end encryption. Only the sender and receiver of the messages can see their contents. Photos, videos, and other file attachments are also encrypted. What's more, Apple's FaceTime service also uses end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, too. This means that Apple and its employee...
If you have iCloud Backups enabledon your iPhone or iPad---and most people do---then there's a big hole in the normally secure, end-to-end encryption. With iCloud Backup enabled, your iCloud messages are encrypted, then backed up to iCloud and stored on Apple's servers. However, Apple receives a copy of the key that is used to encrypt that backup. ...
There are several reasons why Apple doesn't use end-to-end encryption for backups. First, this provides more protection for average people who lose their passwords. If you lose your Apple ID password and go through Apple's password recovery process, you can regain access to all your data, including your iMessage backups. With end-to-end encryption,...
There are several moving parts here. Apple has two services that host your messages: Messages in iCloud syncs your messages between devices, and it is end-to-end encrypted. However, if you use iCloud Backup to back up anything on your device, it seems that iCloud gets a copy of the key that can decrypt the messages---even if you're not backing up m...
Disabling Messages in iCloud Isn't Good Enough
You might think that you can solve this problem by disabling Messages in iCloud. However, the only solution is disabling iCloud backup itself. Here's a quick summary of what the various combinations of settings do: 1. iCloud Backup Enabled, Messages in iCloud Enabled: Apple will store your iCloud messages on its servers in an end-to-end encrypted manner. However, the encryption key will be uploaded as part of the iCloud backup, giving Apple access to your messages. 2. iCloud Backup Enabled, M...
The Only Solution: Disable iCloud Backups
You can keep using Messages in iCloud to sync your messages, if you like, but you must disable iCloud Backups entirely on the devices you're syncing messages to. This will prevent Apple from storing a copy of the decryption key that can access these messages. (If you just disable Messages in iCloud and leave iCloud backups enabled, Apple saysit will upload a copy of your messages as part of your backups.) Unfortunately, you cannot just tell iCloud to stop backing up your Messages---you have t...
Of course, iMessages aren't the only thing that your iPhone backs up to iCloud. It backs up the local data many other apps are storing, too---if you have iCloud Backup enabled. Some other secure, end-to-end encrypted messaging apps get around this concern by just not backing up your messages to iCloud. For example, the secure messaging app Signal d...
By the way, you can make encrypted backups of your iPhone. You just can't do it with iCloud. If you have a Windows PC or Mac, you can connect your iPhone (or iPad) to your computer with a USB cable and back up to a local file via iTunes (on Windows) or Finder (on Mac). Check the "Encrypt Local Backups" option to secure your local backup with a pass...
- Former Editor-In-Chief
Jan 8, 2022 · A recent story from The Wall Street Journal explores how that came to pass as a result of Apple’s walled garden approach to iMessage, and the social implications of the same. A lot of the design decisions Apple has made for iMessage are specifically devised to encourage the adoption of devices that support iMessage, which just so happen to be iPhones and iPhones alone, among users.
Jun 13, 2021 · Apple’s products work with each other flawlessly which makes it very easy to enter the ecosystem but too difficult to leave, just like a black hole There’s chatter of Apple’s “Walled ...
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