CIA had been trying to break the security protecting Apple phones and tablets, as The Intercept reports on Tuesday, citing documents obtained from Edward Snowden. According to the report, which cites top-secret U.S. documents, the U.S. government researchers had created a version of XCode, Apple's software application development tool, to create surveillance backdoors into programs distributed on Apple's App Store.

The Intercept did not clarify whether U.S. intelligence researchers had succeeded in breaking Apple's encryption coding.

Last September, Apple strengthened encryption methods for data stored on iPhones, saying the changes meant the company no longer had any way to extract customer data on the devices, even if a government ordered it to with a search warrant. Google also announced plans to increase the use of stronger encryption tools.