State monitoring: Apple is open for the first time

Apple has published concrete figures for so-called push tokens for the first time. This gives a little insight into which countries are interested in such data – and to what extent. The interest of law enforcement officers and other authorities in push-tokens is growing: Apple recorded 70 inquiries worldwide in the second half of 2022, in the first half of 2024 there were already 277. Individual inquiries often aim at a larger number of push tokens.

Inquiries almost only from North America and Western Europe

Most inquiries asked In the encrypted period From mid -2022 to mid -2024 authorities from the United States, followed by Great Britain and – at a clear distance – Germany. There were also inquiries from Canada, France, Poland, the Netherlands and Israel. Singapore appears as the only Asian country in the list. According to its own statement, Apple does not automatically give data price, but according to the numbers, but around 60 to 80 percent of inquiries ultimately have success. In other cases, Apple apparently does not provide any information.

Apple explains that the inquiries “usually” aim to obtain data on the Apple account linked with a push token. These include, for example, the name of the user, its place of residence and the email address. The law enforcement officers may be able to assign a certain messenger ID to a specific user.

Every iPhone app that may receive communications is assigned a push token. The messages run via Apple’s push notification service (APN). In addition to the metadata, which communicates with whom, when and when, content that is transmitted in plain language can also be recorded. Apple does not put up in detail what data has been published to authorities. In crypto messengers, messages are usually encrypted or indicate the app to only display them locally.

With Android, the push messages work according to the same principle, only that the messages run via Google’s server. Apps can also offer your own solutions here without using Google’s push service.

Inquiries about Push-tokens remained hidden for a long time

The US senator Ron Wyden had at the end of 2023 According to a report by netzpolitik.org made aware of the practice so that companies like Apple can now give numbers. Previously, these were “hidden” in the inquiries about iCloud account or Apple devices of the transparency report. This also encircles every six months of the other state inquiries there were user data at Apple.