--- title: FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement Unlock iPhones description: The FBI said it would try to help local law enforcement agencies to open locked phones and other devices in an advisory on Friday canonical: https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-02T14:00:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:24:59.684Z article:section: Politics og:title: FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement With Locked iPhones og:description: "The FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners" og:url: https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2430be5e9eb6cda/69888d75196cf4ae9103b033/apple-phone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: U.S.-NEW YORK-DISTRICT COURT-APPLE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement With Locked iPhones twitter:description: "The FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2430be5e9eb6cda/69888d75196cf4ae9103b033/apple-phone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement With Locked iPhones > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 2, 2016 2:00 PM UTC  Customers visit the Apple store of the Grand Central Terminal in New York, the United States, March 1. Customers visit the Apple store of the Grand Central Terminal in New York, the United States, March 1. Wang Lei—Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 2, 2016 2:00 PM UTC The FBI said it would [try to help local law enforcement agencies](http://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-offers-to-help-agencies-with-locked-phones-1459561489) to open locked phones and other devices in an advisory on Friday. “As has been our long-standing policy, the FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners,” the agency told local authorities in a letter, the [_Wall Street Journal_ reported](http://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-offers-to-help-agencies-with-locked-phones-1459561489). “Please know that we will continue to do everything we can to help you consistent with our legal and policy constraints.’’ The message was issued in response to a surge in interest from state and local authorities after the FBI was able to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters without the assistance of Apple. The agency [unlocked the San Bernardino iPhone](http://time.com/4275828/how-to-tell-who-won-the-fight-between-apple-and-the-fbi/) with the help of a third party, temporarily ending a legal battle with Apple that sparked a [heated debate](http://time.com/4275033/apple-fbi-iphone-case/) about security and privacy. “That method for unlocking that specific iPhone proved successful,’’ the FBI said in its advisory, according to the _Journal_. It said it was aware that the difficulty of accessing locked data in criminal probes “is a substantial state and local law-enforcement challenge that you face daily.’’ \[[_Wall Street Journal_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-offers-to-help-agencies-with-locked-phones-1459561489)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/"},"headline":"FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement With Locked iPhones","datePublished":"2016-04-02T14:00:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:24:59.684Z","description":"\"The FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners\"","url":"https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/","keywords":["FBI"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2430be5e9eb6cda/69888d75196cf4ae9103b033/apple-phone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2430be5e9eb6cda/69888d75196cf4ae9103b033/apple-phone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S.-NEW YORK-DISTRICT COURT-APPLE","caption":"U.S.-NEW YORK-DISTRICT COURT-APPLE","creditText":"Wang Lei—Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fbi/","name":"FBI"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4279841/fbi-unlock-iphone-local-law-enforcement-police-san-bernardino-encryption/","name":"FBI Offers to Help Local Law Enforcement With Locked iPhones"}}]}] ```