Leaks are a constant part of big product news cycles, particularly for companies like Apple. Online soothsayers like Jon Prosser and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have long predicted the content of upcoming Apple announcements, citing anonymous sources from within the company to glean glimpses of what’s next. They have been correct often enough to become a real pain for the Cupertino company.
Now, Apple has seized upon an opportunity to fight back against leaks. In a complaint filed Thursday in US federal court for the Northern District of California, Apple is accusing prominent leaker Jon Prosser of allegedly scheming to “break into an Apple development iPhone, steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft.”
The suit alleges that, along with a co-conspirator, Prosser, who makes videos on the YouTube channel Front Page Tech, deliberately took advantage of an Apple employee named Ethan Lipnik who had access to a developer iPhone running the as-of-yet unreleased software that would become iOS 26. The suit alleges that the other defendant, Michael Ramacciotti, who was staying at Lipnik's home at the time, waited for Lipnik to leave before accessing the development phone and showing details of the unreleased software to Prosser over a video call. Prosser then allegedly used information obtained in that early peek at iOS in videos that he posted on his YouTube channel well before Apple officially announced the updates.
The suit also alleges that Ramacciotti claims Prosser masterminded the whole plan, promising Ramacciotti he would “find out a way for [Mr. Ramacciotti] to get payment.”
Prosser has denied any wrongdoing and says the details of the suit are incorrect. In public posts on X, Prosser has maintained that this was not how things went down on his end.
“The details that Apple was given are just not accurate,” Prosser wrote to me via a direct message on X. “I had no knowledge of how the info was obtained. He never told me he ‘needed money’ and I absolutely did not instruct him to act this out.”
Prosser doesn’t deny that he did reveal the information gleaned from Ramacciotti. He highlighted the details about the unreleased update in a series of videos earlier this year, including one in which he called the news, “the biggest iOS leak ever.”
Despite the question of how he actually acquired the information, the aftermath has been messy. Ethan Lipnik, the Apple employee who had the development phone that Ramacciotti is alleged to have accessed, was fired by the company. According to the complaint, Apple ended Lipnik’s employment “for failing to follow Apple’s policies designed to protect its confidential information, including development devices and unreleased software and features.”
Apple has not responded to requests for comment. Ethan Lipnik has also not responded to a request for comment.
“It's quite a significant lawsuit,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst at the tech research firm Moor Insights & Strategy, in an email. “But I also believe that there is quite a disparity between what Prosser is saying and what Apple alleges, especially since the employee seemed to not be aware of what was going on.”
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