"Illegal access to employee iPhone": Apple sues leaker
According to Apple, YouTuber Jon Prosser and another person allegedly tapped information from an Apple employee. Prosser sees it differently.
"Liquid Glass" design in iOS 26 (here in false colors): YouTuber Prosser had reported on the look early on.
(Image: Apple)
Escalation in the Apple leaker environment: The iPhone manufacturer has sued Jon Prosser, a well-known YouTuber, for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets and illegally accessing the developer iPhone of an Apple employee. According to the lawsuit, which was first reported by Macrumors, Apple is seeking damages not only from Prosser, but also from another person, Michael Ramacciotti. The latter is said to have had a friend at Apple whose device was accessed to be able to report in advance on Apple's new “Liquid Glass” look in the upcoming iOS 26. Prosser denied the allegations on X and wrote that there was no such “plot” to access an iPhone. He said he did not know how the situation had played out. “That's not how things went down on my end.” He is now looking forward to talking to Apple about it.
YouTube video with exact details
Prosser had managed to share quite precise details about the new design months before iOS 26 was announced at the WWDC developer conference. Among other things, he showed a possible redesign of Apple's camera app as well as a new variant of the Messages app and partially rounded areas, which Apple has also implemented in this way. According to Prosser, the design was copied from information he had obtained. According to Apple's lawsuit, Prosser managed to gain access to an Apple employee's iPhone in a roundabout way. Ramacciotti had a friend at Apple, the employee Ethan L.
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According to Apple, Prosser and Ramacciotti colluded to access L.'s developer iPhone as soon as he was absent for a longer period of time. To achieve this, Ramacciotti apparently obtained the passcode for the iPhone and also used location data to determine L.'s whereabouts. When L. was gone, Ramacciotti gained access to the device and presented the new look to Prosser via FaceTime. This call is said to have been recorded by Prosser and then processed for a video. Ramacciotti is said to have been offered “financial compensation” by Prosser, Apple claims.
Apple employees dismissed
Apple's lawyers also write in their lawsuit that L.'s iPhone contained “significant amounts of other Apple trade secrets” that have not yet been publicly discussed. It is not known how many of these are in the possession of Prosser and Ramacciotti. Apple's lawsuit alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an anti-hacking law.
The two defendants are to refrain from publishing further trade secrets and return them. Incidentally, L. himself has since been dismissed for allegedly violating Apple's security policy by failing to protect his developer iPhone. L. is also said not to have informed Apple directly after learning from the Prosser video that it was his apartment that was featured in the FaceTime call. Apple claims to have learned of the matter via an anonymous email. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California (Case: 3:25-cv-06043).
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