Apple removes end-to-end encryption for Safari bookmarks

Less than two weeks after launching end-to-end bookmark encryption for Safari, Apple is abandoning the extra protection.

In early October 2021, Apple's support document was updated to show that Safari bookmarks had been updated to have the same end-to-end encryption as Apple Card transactions and even Memoji. However, now the same document has removed this, and bookmarks are once again listed as encrypted only "in transit and on our servers."

Neither of these changes was actually announced by Apple, so it's possible that the documentation was updated in error, and that the error has now been corrected.

End-to-end encryption will improve security because iCloud syncs bookmarks between users' devices. Apple's own documentation describes end-to-end encryption as providing the "highest level of data security."

Apple and all big tech companies have been under pressure from some to abandon end-to-end encryption entirely and allow governments and law enforcement to access all data.