Apple sued notorious leaker Jon Prosser and an associate Thursday, alleging that they concocted a “scheme to break into an Apple development iPhone, steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft.”
Prosser published several renders showcasing iOS 26’s rumored visionOS-inspired glassy redesign months before WWDC25. While not completely accurate, his leaks proved pretty much on point regarding the look of the Liquid Glass design language of Apple’s upcoming operating systems.
Prosser’s iOS 26 leaks land him in legal trouble
Apple is famously secretive about its upcoming products and software releases. And it is also equally aggressive about coming against people who leak them. In 2007, the company shut down Think Secret — a famous Apple rumor blog — for publishing details of an unreleased music breakout box. Likewise, Apple responded aggressively when Gizmodo bought a lost iPhone 4 prototype and published a teardown in 2010.
This time, Apple is going after Jon Prosser for leaking iOS 19 details, before the operating system was officially announced as iOS 26 at WWDC25 in June.
Apple’s lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, accuses Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti, a video editor from Pioneer, California, of “misappropriation of trade secrets.” Their coordinated scheme caused harm to “Apple and its thousands of employees working tirelessly on iOS and iPad OS, who spend years working in secret on Apple’s new features and products,” according to Apple’s lawsuit.
Anonymous email to Apple triggers Prosser probe
Interestingly, Apple claims it received an anonymous email tip in early April alleging that Prosser’s iOS 19 leaks came from Apple software engineer Ethan Lipnik.
The anonymous email triggered Apple’s investigation into the leak.
“I am not sure who to contact, but as a courtesy to the iOS 19 team at Apple, I wanted to share information that I have about an employee who leaked pre-release design details,” the anonymous email said, according to the lawsuit, which reproduced it in full.
“The iOS 19 information shared by Jon Prosser is sourced from Ethan Lipnik,” the email continued, then including links to two of Prosser’s YouTube videos.
Prosser allegedly plotted with a friend to gain access to a development iPhone
Apple’s lawsuit alleges that Prosser collaborated with Ramacciotti — who was reportedly in need of money — to gain access to Lipnik’s development iPhone running iOS 19.
Apparently, Ramacciotti spoke to Prosser over a FaceTime call and showcased the new iOS 19 interface. Prosser supposedly recorded the call, re-creating elements of the software via renders and then sharing it with the world.
The lawsuit says Ramacciotti and Lipnik were friends, and that Ramacciotti often spent time at Lipnik’s apartment in Santa Clara, California.
Location tracking and a FaceTime call
To accomplish the leak, Ramacciotti, while staying at Lipnik’s apartment, used “location tracking to determine when Mr. Lipnik would be gone for an extended period, acquired his passcode, and broke into his Development iPhone, which Mr. Lipnik had failed to properly secure according to Apple’s policies,” according to the lawsuit.
Ramacciotti then allegedly video-called Prosser and showed him iOS 19’s visual changes, which the latter recorded.
Prosser’s team then re-created renders of the video for publishing on his Front Page Tech YouTube channel. Additionally, Prosser “shared the recordings with at least one person who reported back to Mr. Lipnik that he recognized Mr. Lipnik’s apartment in the recording,” according to the lawsuit.
Ramacciotti supposedly admitted to all of this through an audio note to Lipnik, which Lipnik shared with Apple.
Apple engineer’s iPhone contained loads of trade secrets
Apple’s lawsuit alleges that Lipnik’s development iPhone “contained a significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information.” The company does not know how much data Prosser and Ramacciotti allegedly accessed from Lipnik’s iPhone. The lawsuit says Apple fears Prosser “will continue to misuse its trade secrets” without judicial intervention.
Apple already fired Lipnik for failing to protect confidential information and for not disclosing the leak when he first became aware of it.
Prosser said Friday on X that he did not plot to access Lipnik’s phone.
“For the record: This is not how the situation played out on my end. Luckily have receipts for that,” Prosser wrote. “I did not ‘plot’ to access anyone’s phone. I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained. Looking forward to speaking with Apple on this.”
For the record: I certainly did not “plot” to access anyone’s phone and was unaware of the situation playing out.
— jon prosser (@jon_prosser) July 18, 2025
Jon Prosser shot to fame in 2020 with bold Apple leaks
Prosser rose to fame in 2020 during the pandemic for sharing details about the 13-inch MacBook Pro and iPhone SE ahead of their release. In episode No. 441 of Cult of Mac’s podcast, The CultCast, Prosser said that Apple is working on a special pair of Steve Jobs Heritage Edition AR glasses. That wild rumor from May 2020 obviously has not panned out yet.
At his peak, Prosser’s leaks hit a higher accuracy rating than even those of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one of the best Apple reporters around. And when one of Prosser’s leaks didn’t pan out, he famously shaved off his eyebrows as a self-imposed penalty.
Apple’s lawsuit might just put an end to Prosser’s leak career. Cult of Mac asked Prosser to comment on the lawsuit, but he did not respond prior to publication.
Read Apple’s lawsuit against Jon Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti
Apple v. Ramacciotti and Prosser by MacRumors
Source: MacRumors
Rajesh has been closely following and writing about the latest happenings in the world of mobile for nearly a decade now. While he prefers Android, he does not deny the superiority of Apple’s products and ecosystem.
