Apple is suing John Prosser over iOS 26 leaks

Apple has sued YouTube blogger John Prosser and his co-conspirator Michael Ramacciotti, accusing them of illegally obtaining and distributing confidential information about iOS 26. The lawsuit stems from a series of videos Prosser posted in early 2024, in which he presented visualizations of a future version of iOS based, Apple claims, on stolen data.

Apple’s lawsuit has been filed against Prosser and his co-conspirators for illegally obtaining stolen data.

The leaks began with a demo of the new camera interface

Prosser’s first video appeared in January, when the new system was still undergoing internal testing and was supposedly called iOS 19. In that video, he showed off a redesigned interface for the Camera app, with simplified navigation between shooting modes. Later in March, on the Genius Bar podcast, Prosser showed off a redesigned Messages interface, with round navigation buttons at the top of the screen and rounded keyboard corners.

The final video was published in April. In it, Prosser showed off the Liquid Glass redesign in detail, which was actually introduced by Apple in the final version of iOS 26. Among the features are more rounded and glassy interface elements, as well as pill-shaped tabs at the bottom of Apple’s apps.

All of the features include more rounded and glassy interface elements, as well as pill-shaped tabs at the bottom of Apple’s apps.

Although the final version of the Camera interface in iOS 26 differed from the one presented by Prosser, the core concepts were the same. Apple saw this as a reason to take legal action, saying the leak was the result of willful misconduct.

Apple accuses Prosser and Ramacciotti of conspiracy and data theft

According to the lawsuit, Prosser and Ramacciotti gained access to a developer iPhone in the possession of Apple employee Ethan Lipnic. The documents allege that Ramacciotti – a friend of Lipnic’s – obtained the device’s lock code and used location tracking to determine when the owner would be away.

According to the lawsuit, Prosser and Ramacciotti obtained the device’s lock code and used location tracking to determine when the owner would be absent.

Prosser allegedly offered Ramacciotti a financial reward for helping him gain access to the smartphone. Ramacciotti ended up making a video call via FaceTime, according to Apple, showing Prosser the iOS 26 interface on the developer iPhone’s screen. Prosser recorded the call using screen-capture tools, and then used that material to create visualizations published online.

The company emphasizes that the device contained “a significant amount of undisclosed information,” and it’s unclear how much of that data was already in the defendants’ possession.

It’s not clear how much of that data was already in the defendants’ possession.

Apple seeks ban on further leaks

In the lawsuit, Apple is pushing for an injunction against further disclosure of confidential information and is also seeking damages for misuse of trade secrets.

Itan Lipnic has already been fired from the company for violating internal policies and failing to notify Apple of the leak. He failed to report the incident, even when he learned of the hack through third parties who recognized his apartment in a video of a FaceTime call. Apple executives first learned of the incident from an anonymous email.

John Prosser responded to the allegations on social media

After the news broke, John Prosser responded to the allegations in comments under a tweet about the lawsuit. He said he was “unaware of what was going on” and expressed a willingness to “discuss the situation with Apple.”

After the news was published, John Prosser responded to the allegations in the comments under a tweet about the lawsuit.

The Apple sues John Prosser over iOS 26 leaks was first published on ITZine.ru.