The US Justice Department says it has withdrawn a request to force Apple to reveal data from a mobile phone linked to a New York drug case after someone provided federal investigators with the phone's passcode.
Federal prosecutors said in a letter to US District Judge Margo Brodie that investigators were able to access the iPhone late on Thursday night after using the passcode.
The government said it no longer needs Apple's assistance to unlock the iPhone and is withdrawing its request for an order requiring Apple's co-operation in the drug case.
"As we have said previously, these cases have never been about setting a court precedent; they are about law enforcement's ability and need to access evidence on devices pursuant to lawful court orders and search warrants," Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement.
The Justice Department had sought to compel the Cupertino, California-based Apple to co-operate in the drug case, even though it had recently dropped a fight to compel Apple to help break into an iPhone used by a gunman in a December attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people.
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In that case, a still-unidentified third party came forward with a technique that managed to open the phone.
That entity has not been named, and the Justice Department has not revealed the method used.
