Despite the popularity of iMessage and FaceTime, Apple has revealed that it may soon remove both apps from the UK's top-of-the-line iPhone

The BBC reports that the UK government is currently updating the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which is behind why this would be an unwelcome change

With this new update to the controversial Surveillance Bill, the UK government is trying to change things so that all messaging services (including Apple's) will need to get the go-ahead from the Home Office before rolling out new security features Currently, a review is conducted before any action is taken, and tech companies can appeal

Under threat from these proposed amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act are all encrypted messaging apps, not just iMessage and FaceTime Like Apple, Signal has threatened to pull out of the UK if these changes are made

Apple also takes issue with the fact that the changes will require the company and other tech companies to inform the UK government before releasing new security features for their products At the same time, iPhone manufacturers will need to respond immediately if the UK government asks them to disable or block certain features, such as end-to-end encryption

As it stands, the UK government has begun an eight-week consultation on proposed amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act However, given the backlash from Apple and other tech companies (not to mention their customers), these new amendments to the surveillance bill may not be an improvement after all

Governments around the world have long viewed end-to-end encryption as problematic Similarly, this type of encryption also prevents companies from accessing the contents of your messages and the files you store in the best cloud storage

While there are now a variety of encrypted messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, Apple really got the ball rolling when it added this feature to iMessage If the UK government's amendment to the Investigatory Powers Act comes into effect, Apple will be forced to disable iMessage's end-to-end encryption without warning its customers, potentially putting both their privacy and their data at risk

If the UK government has its way, the US and other countries around the world could follow suit and end encrypted messaging as we know it today This is because journalists, political activists, and others who deal with sensitive information also rely on encrypted messaging applications to do their work