A BBC report said the new powers sought were part of an update to the 2016 law, the Investigatory Powers Act.

Under the proposed changes, London would require all security features to be cleared by the Home Office before being implemented. The government would also be able to have security features disabled, without informing the public.

The UK is not the only country trying to place curbs on the use of encryption. The EU is citing child sexual abuse as an argument to weaken the use of end-to-end encryption through a law named the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation.

The EU law has drawn opposition from 390 scientists and researchers from 34 countries, who have, in a letter, said while they back the bid to curb child sexual abuse and exploitation, they oppose the means by which this law will effect that.

In 2018, Australia passed a law that enabled the authorities to issue technical assistance requests, technical assistance notices and technical capability notices to get past encryption.

The TCN is one way listed in the legislation whereby law enforcement can get industry to aid in breaking encryption. A TAR allows for voluntary help by a company; its staff will be given civil immunity from prosecution. An interception agency can then issue a TAN to make a communications provider offer assistance based on existing functionality.

Though amendments were proposed and a number of reviews undertaken, no changes have been made to the law that was passed in December of that year.

Apart from Apple, the Facebook-owned WhatsApp and the messaging app Signal have also opposed the proposed changes to the Investigatory Powers Act.

The Act already allows authorities to store Internet browsing records for a year and allows bulk collection of personal data.

In June, the British Government opened an eight-week consultation on the proposed changes. That period ends on 31 July.

Apple has said it would oppose changes to security features for any one country which would weaken encryption for all its users. It has also said that changes would at times have to be made via a software update and this could not be hidden from users.

Back in March, Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, said in a statement: "The Signal Protocol has become the foundation for end-to-end encryption technology that is used and trusted by many private messaging services to protect billions of messages every day.

"We recognise that privacy is a human right and that free expression and the ability to dissent are fundamental to a safe and vibrant society. But the current state of the Online Safety Bill in the UK puts the future of privacy and expression in grave jeopardy."