Your iPhone holds some of your most private information – messages, photos and personal data secured by encryption, that even Apple itself cannot access.

But a legal battle between the tech giant and the UK government is now testing the limits of that security.

The company has been locked in the legal and political showdown over its encryption, with major implications for how your personal data will be stored.

This follows an order from the UK government, that forced the company to create a ‘back door’ to its highly secure data storage system.

The move, if Apple complies, would allow law enforcement to access encrypted iCloud data, from any of its users.

It is understood that last Friday, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) held a hearing for the iPhone maker. Yet, this has not been publicly confirmed by either party.

The fiasco has drawn ample criticism from tech industry leaders, privacy groups and even US lawmakers, who have all argued that forcing the iPhone maker to weaken its security could set a dangerous precedent for governments worldwide.

Apple say that compromising encryption would place all its users at risk, while the government insists on being able to request access, citing national security purposes.

The dispute between the US tech firm and the UK government is centred around its advanced data protection (ADP), an optional security feature that allows its users to encrypt their iCloud data.

This offers a layer of security for data including photos, messages and notes.

When enabled, ADP prevents even Apple from accessing your stored files.

Historically, law enforcement could request the access to user data stored in the cloud with a warrant. Yet, ADP made that impossible.

In February, it was reported that the government was using the investigatory powers act (IPA) to demand that Apple build a workaround – essentially a “back door” that would allow authorities to access encrypted user data when necessary.

But Apple pushed back, arguing that creating this “back door” would undermine the privacy and security of all its users.

“We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products, and we never will”, Apple argued at the time.

Once built, it would be difficult to limit it to law enforcement.

The company warned that any attempt to weaken encryption would instead integrate vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad players on a global scale.

Instead of complying, Apple removed ADP from its UK services entirely.

This meant its British users no longer had access to the firm’s highest level of encryption for their iCloud data.