Apple said on Friday it could no longer offer full end-to-end encryption for British customers and iPhone users, following US media reports the UK government had asked for global data access.

"Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users, and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature," it said in a statement.

ADP means only account holders can view content such as photos and documents stored online and in the cloud through what is known as end-to-end encryption.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the UK had demanded that Apple create a "back door" to enable the government to view any information uploaded by any Apple user around the world.

Many tech platforms pride themselves on their ability to guarantee privacy through encrypted messaging channels, and providing access to law enforcement has long been seen as off-limits.

"As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services, and we never will," Apple said on Friday.

The California-based multinational tech giant added it was "gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.".

Police officials worldwide say encryption can protect criminals, terrorists, and pornographers even when authorities have a legal warrant for an investigation.

But civil rights and privacy advocates, along with cybersecurity professionals, advocate encrypting data to protect against wrongful snooping by authorities as well as hackers. (AFP)