Apple admits giving governments access to thousands of iPhones and other devices

Apple approved more than 25,000 government requests to access customer data in the first half of 2018, according to its own figures. The iPhone maker's latest Transparency Report reveals it received 32,342 demands from governments around the world to access 163,823 devices, with 80 per cent of the requests granted. The latest figures represent a 9 per cent rise in the number of demands from the previous six-month reporting period, when 79 per cent of 23,477 requests were granted. More than 42 per cent of all applications in the first half of this year came from German authorities – the government with the most requests. Apple said in its report that the high volume of device requests from Germany was "predominantly due to stolen devices investigations".