Apple sues Jon Prosser over iOS 26 leaks
Longtime leaker and YouTuber Jon Prosser is being sued by Apple over accusations that he and others accessed confidential information about iOS 26 and its Liquid Glass redesign.
Jon Prosser in a still from one of his Front Page Tech videos -- image credit: Prosser
Back in April 2025, as one of a series of leaks, Jon Prosser claimed to show off the redesign of what was then expected to be called iOS 19. His videos demonstrated an artist's render rather than actual screenshots, and this was said to be in order to protect his source. Now Prosser and colleague Michael Ramacciott are being sued by Apple for misappropriation of trade secrets.
Apple's suit alleges that Prosser and Ramacciott accessed a "significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information that has not yet been publicly disclosed."
The company says that it cannot determine just what or how much information was misappropriated, so it is asking for an injunction to prevent further leaks. Apple also wants a trial by jury, with damages to be determined at such a trial.
How Prosser and Ramacciott allegedly obtained the information concerns the latter's friendship with Ethan Lipnik, who at the time worked for Apple. It's claimed that Ramacciott used Lipnik's development iPhone, seemingly without Lipnik's knowledge, and showed off iOS 26 to Prosser through a FaceTime call.
Lipnik has subsequently been fired for failing to secure the development device as required by contract and policy. Lipnik reportedly gave Apple a copy of an audio message he received from Ramacciotti, which apparently included the latter telling him what had happened.
iOS 19 concept shared in April 2025 by Jon Prosser. Image source: FPT
As first spotted by MacRumors, Apple asserts that Ramacciotti knew "this access and copying was unauthorized and could put Mr Lipnik's career in jeopardy, but he did it anyway."
Apple also claims that the scheme was proposed by Prosser, who allegedly promised to find a way for Ramacciotti to get payment. Prosser is said to have shared his screen recordings with at least one other person who recognised Lipnik's apartment and told Lipnik.
Apple was then informed of the incident, not by Lipnik, but by an anonymous source, who on April 4, 2025, emailed the details "as a courtesy to the iOS 19 team."
So far Apple, Lipnik, and Ramacciotti have not commented publicly on the case. However, Jon Prosser has, by way of replying to tweets from MacRumors.
Interesting. This is not how things went down on my end. Looking forward to being able to speak to Apple about it.
-- jon prosser (@jon_prosser)
Prosser's tweet thread continues with him adding, "for the record: I certainly did not 'plot' to access anyone's phone and was unaware of the situation playing out."
In a separate posting on X, Prosser repeated the same text but added: "I did not have any passwords."
The new suit follows one Apple settled in February 2025 against former engineer Andy Aude. The terms of the settlement over Aude's alleged theft of company secrets are not known, but the engineer described his leaks as a "profound and expensive mistake."
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