You have to wonder who at Cupertino thought through the consequences of Apple suing a YouTuber for a “coordinated scheme to break into an Apple Development iPhone, steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft”.
In surprisingly hard-hitting court papers, Apple sued two men, claiming their “misconduct was brazen and egregious”. Apple’s investigations found that “defendant Jon Prosser – working with defendant Michael Ramacciotti – improperly accessed and disclosed Apple’s highly confidential, unreleased software designs, including details regarding the unreleased iOS 19 operating system (which is now known as iOS 26) for Apple mobile devices”.
Prosser, a YouTuber who has boasted about leaks of Apple products in the past, showed off this new look and feel, now known as liquid glass in iOS 26, in a January video titled “your very first look at iOS 19”.
Apple claims that “after Prosser learned that Ramacciotti needed money, and that his friend Ethan Lipnik worked at Apple on unreleased software designs, [the] defendants jointly planned to access Apple’s confidential and trade secret information through Lipnik’s Apple-owned development iPhone (the ‘Development iPhone’).”
Apple says it “learned the details of the scheme in Ramacciotti’s own words – through an audio message” he sent to Lipnik – who has obviously been fired “for failing to follow Apple’s policies designed to protect its confidential information.”
But this is where the allegations get very stern about unethical behaviour. If true, you can see why Apple has come out of hammer-and-tongs in this case.
“According to Ramacciotti’s message, while staying at Lipnik’s home, Ramacciotti used location tracking to determine when Lipnik would be gone for an extended period, acquired his passcode, and broke into his Development iPhone, which Lipnik had failed to properly secure according to Apple’s policies,” Apple writes in the court papers.
“As he detailed in the audio message, Ramacciotti made a video call to Prosser and ‘showed iOS’ on the Development iPhone. He demonstrated several features and applications, disclosing details of the unreleased iOS 19 operating system.”
Prosser claims he wasn’t involved in such a plot. “This is not how the situation played out on my end,” Prosser tweeted. “Luckily [I] have receipts for that. I did not ‘plot’ to access anyone’s phone. I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained. Looking forward to speaking with Apple on this.”
He also posted a screenshot from February that he says is someone offering him the material.”How THE HELL did you get this lol,” he wrote, adding “but we’re 100% sure this is legit material?” Yes, is the reply.
In April, Prosser posted a YouTube video titled “the biggest iOS leak ever.”
Apple says that “ultimately, Prosser profited off Apple’s trade secrets by, at least, sharing them in multiple videos on his business’s YouTube channel, from which he generates ad revenue.”
At face value, it seems like a remarkable assault on Apple’s own fanbase. But, if the allegations are true – and you suspect a global behemoth which has been the world’s most valued company would not make such claims without many, many lawyers signing off on it – there is a case to be made.
Lipnik’s “Development iPhone” also “contained a significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information that has not yet been publicly disclosed”, which Apple says it doesn’t know how much of which was accessed by the defendants.
“In view of the audacity of their acquisition and disclosure of its trade secrets, Apple fears that defendants will continue to misuse its trade secrets absent judicial intervention.”
These “acts harmed Apple and its thousands of employees working tirelessly on iOS and iPad OS, who spend years working in secret on Apple’s new features and products,” reads the court papers.
They are also a warning shot across the bows of thousands of Apple watchers, YouTubers, bloggers, and journalists about the ethics of getting your source material.
