A judge has cancelled a high-profile hearing between Apple and the US government after the FBI made the surprise announcement it might have found its own way to hack an iPhone at the centre of the legal dispute.
In a motion filed late on Monday in federal court, government lawyers said an "outside party" had shown law enforcement a possible method for unlocking the iPhone 5c used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in a terrorism attack on December 2 in San Bernardino, California.
The government said it needed time to test the method and if it proved viable, "it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple" that had led it to a courtroom showdown.
"We must first test this method to ensure it doesn't destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic," US Department of Justice spokesperson Melanie Newman said in a statement to US media.
The court ordered Apple in February to write and install a new version of the device's operating system to bypass a security protocol that will destroy stored data after too many failed password attempts.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has refused, saying the government is overreaching.
He says the proposed "back door" is "too dangerous" to create because its existence could compromise the security of every iPhone equipped with such measures.
The FBI has countered that the data possibly stored on the device is a matter of national security, and only Apple has the ability to help them get it.
Although Apple built the device, its security architecture makes it impossible for anyone - even Apple - to open it without the password programmed by Farook, who with his wife was shot and killed by police after the workplace shooting during a holiday party.
In the dispute, the FBI had argued that the only way to access data on the phone was for Apple to write and force-install a new operating system without the security protocols.
Critics, including some in the US Congress, had publicly wondered why the FBI's technical experts could not find a way to break into the device themselves.
It was unclear who had proposed the potential solution. In court papers, the government said only that it had continued to conduct its own research into how to break into the device, and that others "outside the government" had been in touch offering help.
Oral arguments at the federal district court in Riverside, California, had been scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
The government will file a status report on April 5 instead.
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