Apple has sued well-known leaker Jon Prosser for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to iOS 26. Prosser is accused of instructing another man, Michael Ramacciotti, to secretly access an Apple employee's developer iPhone and use that information to report on Apple's planned changes to the then-unannounced iOS 26, UNN reports with reference to The Verge.
Details
According to the lawsuit, Apple claims that Prosser offered Ramacciotti "money or future employment opportunities" in exchange for access to a work phone belonging to his friend Ethan Lipnik, an Apple software engineer working on iOS.
Ramacciotti allegedly learned Lipnik's iPhone password, used "location tracking" to determine when he would be away from home for an extended period, and then accessed the iPhone with a developer version of the mobile OS. Apple states that Ramacciotti showed the software to Prosser during a video call, which Prosser recorded, shared with others, and used to create renders of new designs.
Apple claims it learned about this situation in April from an anonymous email from a person who claimed to have seen a recording of Prosser's call and recognized Lipnik's apartment. The company also claims to have a voicemail sent by Ramacciotti to Lipnik, apologizing for the incident and claiming that the trick was Prosser's idea, which Lipnik, in turn, provided to Apple. The company fired Lipnik for improper adherence to policies regarding the protection of unreleased software.
Prosser published several videos on his YouTube channels Front Page Tech and Genius Bar Podcast, dedicated to leaking information about features of the new iOS version, which was then to be called iOS 19. In January 2025, he released "your first look at iOS 19," revealing a redesign of the camera app. In March, information about a redesigned Messages app was published, and in April he published "the biggest iOS leak in history," taking a first look at Apple's new Liquid Glass design language.
Jon Prosser responded to the lawsuit, insisting that Apple's account "does not reflect the situation as it happened from my side," and claiming to have evidence of this.
I did not "plan" to access anyone's phone. I did not have passwords. I did not know how this information was obtained.
In its court filing, Apple seeks both damages and an injunction prohibiting Prosser from disclosing Apple's trade secrets again. The company adds that although iOS 26 has since been announced to the public, its secrets are still at risk because the developed phone "contained other unannounced design elements."
Addition
Apple's head of AI models Ruoming Pan is moving to Meta, where he will lead a new superintelligence AI division. Pan previously led Apple's team that trained foundational AI models for Apple Intelligence.