NATO says iPhones are secure enough to handle classified data

"iPhone and iPad were cleared to handle classified information from the German government. But now, the BSI has signed off on the use of Apple devices with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 across all NATO nations."

"Apple says built-in security protections, like encryption, biometric authentication with Face ID, and Memory Integrity Enforcement, which directly targets spyware, 'are now recognized as meeting stringent government and international security requirements.'"

"The NATO-restricted designation is the lowest level of classified information, and it applies to information that would be 'disadvantageous to the interests of NATO' if disclosed, according to a security document posted by the Marines."

Apple's iPhone and iPad running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have received approval to handle NATO-restricted classified information, the lowest level of classified data. Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) conducted an extensive evaluation and cleared the devices for use across all NATO nations. Apple's built-in security features—including encryption, Face ID biometric authentication, and Memory Integrity Enforcement targeting spyware—meet stringent government and international security requirements. This approval allows off-the-shelf devices to store sensitive information without requiring specialized software or configurations, similar to BlackBerry 10's 2013 approval for the same classification level.

Read at The Verge