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Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks

MacRumors said:


Earlier this year, YouTuber Jon Prosser shared multiple videos showing off what he claimed to be re-created renderings of what was then presumed to be called iOS 19 and which was eventually unveiled by Apple as iOS 26 at WWDC in June.

ios-19-messages-app.jpg

In his first video back in January, Prosser showed off a Camera app redesign with a simpler set of buttons for moving between photo and video modes, and he followed that up with a March episode of his Genius Bar podcast where he showed off the Messages app, complete with round navigation buttons at the top and rounded corners around the keyboard.

And he wrapped things up with an April video that gave a more complete look at the Liquid Glass redesign that ultimately debuted in iOS 26, with rounder, glass-like interface elements, pill-shaped tab bars at the bottom of certain Apple apps, and more.

While the Camera app redesign didn't exactly match what Apple unveiled for iOS 26, the general idea was correct and much of what else Prosser showed was pretty close to spot on, and Apple clearly took notice as the company filed a lawsuit today (Scribd link) against Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti for misappropriation of trade secrets.

Apple's complaint outlines what it claims is the series of events that led to the leaks, which centered around a development iPhone in the possession of Ramacciotti's friend and Apple employee Ethan Lipnik. According to Apple, Prosser and Ramacciotti plotted to access Lipnik's phone, acquiring his passcode and then using location-tracking to determine when he "would be gone for an extended period." Prosser reportedly offered financial compensation to Ramacciotti in return for assisting with accessing the development iPhone.

Apple says Ramacciotti accessed Lipnik's development iPhone and made a FaceTime call to Prosser, showing off iOS 26 running on the development iPhone, and that Prosser recorded the call with screen capture tools. Prosser then shared those videos with others and used them to make re-created renders of iOS 26 for his videos.

Lipnik's phone contained a "significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information that has not yet been publicly disclosed," and Apple says it does not know how much of that information is in the possession of Prosser and Ramacciotti.

In order to protect its trade secrets, Apple has filed the lawsuit to request an injunction against further disclosure of Apple's confidential trade secret information and is seeking damages over the misappropriation of them.

Lipnik's employment with Apple has already been terminated over his failure to follow the company's policies to protect development and unreleased devices and software. Lipnik also failed to disclose the breach to Apple once he learned of it through others who recognized his apartment in the recorded FaceTime call, with Apple learning of the details from an anonymous email.

Update 8:55 pm: In replies to our tweet about this story, Prosser takes issue with Apple's presentation of the events, claiming he was "unaware of the situation playing out" and saying he is "looking forward to being able to speak to Apple about it."



Article Link: Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks
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I see this as Apple (hopefully) finally getting serious about secrecy again.

Whether or not this lawsuit works (I assume the latter), it might shake things up with the leakers and “discourage” them.

It’s about f***ing time Apple got serious about the leaks again.
 
His leak wasn’t even correct… but the camera app interface he leaked was actually a lot more intuitive than what’s currently in the beta
 
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Reactions: Dj64Mk7
F around and find out. What was the point in all of these? These kind of people are like sharing spoilers from new episode of game of thrones. Ruining the experience for everyone. Apple events had a exciting waiting period. They killed it.
 
Not sure if my name was Richard Hung (his friends call him Dick) I'd want to be an attorney (or anything where my name was on millions of pieces of paper), but there it is at the top of the lawsuit! I guess it's even worse if his name is filed by lastname, firstname. :)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Mainyehc
I wouldn't want to p!55 Apple off, for sure. Do you need to turn in all your Apple devices and use the competition from that point forward? I couldn't live like that so I won't be leaking any Apple trade secrets anybody wants to give me.
 
Perhaps we need to be reading between the lines and asking ourselves why such a high profile leak was available in the first place? We saw a lot more of iOS26 prior to launch than any in recent memory.

The smart money is on liquid glass being shelved at the last minute for iOS18 to keep the shareholders happy with make way for Apple Intelligence. This explains why the Photos app last year was so different to the rest of the operating system.

Apple should have released it last year and left AI in the oven instead. They'd not then find themselves having to issue non-apologies for faked tech demos and having to lower themselves to legal action against a YouTuber who has made a career out of leaking Apple stuff for decades.
 
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Reactions: etichi, Dj64Mk7 and Shirasaki
Apple’s lawyer army: just another day in the office.
Will there be endless leakers? Guess we are going to find out.
 
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