Apple has filed a lawsuit against YouTube content creator Jon Prosser (@FrontPageTech) and NTFTW’s tech product analyst Michael Ramacciotti for allegedly plotting to access an Apple employee’s development phone to leak design and other information about iOS 26 operating system (OS). The company filed the lawsuit in the US District Court of California alleging that Prosser plotted to leak “trade secrets” of Apple, ultimately profiting from it through YouTube ad revenue. Prosser posted the first video about iOS 26, what was then rumoured to be called iOS 19, on January 18, in which he reveals the alleged design of the speculated camera app.
Apple’s allegations and a lawsuit
According to a court filing, Apple received the information about iOS 26 details being leaked through an anonymous via an email on April 4. The email, as seen in the court document, only names Prosser and Ramacciotti, while other names have been redacted. Apple alleges that the case arises from Prosser and Ramacciotti’s “coordinated scheme” to gain access to a development iPhone in order to “steal Apple’s trade secrets”, and gain from the same.
Apple said that the two, while doing this, caused harm to the company and its “thousands of employees” who are working on the company’s proprietary OS. As per Apple’s account, Prosser learnt that Ramacciotti needed money, and that he has a friend called Ethan Lipnik who is an Apple employee, who worked at under development OS designs.
Prosser and Ramacciotti then proceeded to conspire to access the company’s “confidential and trade secret information” via Lipnik’s development iPhone, the Cupertino company claims. Apple learnt about this from an audio message that Ramacciotti sent to Lipnik, which Lipnik shared with the company before getting fired.
The alleged message revealed, according to Apple, that Ramacciotti used to track Lipnik’s location, while staying at his place, to determine when he would be gone for a longer period of time. He then acquired Lipnik’s passcode, following which he was able to break into the development iPhone. After gaining unauthorised access to it, Ramacciotti showed Prosser iOS 19 (now called iOS 26) features and applications, which he later used in his videos.
The three videos in question, that Prosser uploaded on his YouTube channel FPT, are titled “Here’s your very first look at iOS 19”, “Introducing iOS 19 | Exclusive First Look”, and “This video is the biggest iOS leak ever | iOS 19 Early Preview”. The first video was uploaded on January 18, second on March 26, and third on April 8. In the first video, Prosser showed the alleged design of the camera app, the second showed the lock screen’s design in iOS 19, and the third one showed the home screen design.
However, Prosser has denied Apple’s allegations. While replying to an X post, Prosser said that this is not how things happened on his end, and that he was willing to talk to Apple about it. In another reply, he said that he “certainly did not plot” to gain access to anyone’s phone.
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