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 were pretty much on point.
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 the past, the company shut down Think Secret — a famous Apple rumor blog — for publishing details of an unreleased music breakout box.
This time, Apple is going after Jon Prosser for leaking iOS 19 details, before it was officially announced as iOS 26 at WWDC25.
Apple’s lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, accuses Jon Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti 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.”
Interestingly, Apple claims it received an anonymous email tip in early April, alleging that Jon Prosser’s iOS 19 leaks came from Apple employee Ethan Lipnik.
The lawsuit alleges that Prosser collaborated with Ramacciotti — who was allegedly in need of money — to gain access to Lipnik’s development iPhone running iOS 19.
Prosser supposedly plotted with a friend to gain access to a development iPhone
Apparently, Lipnik, or his friend Ramacciotti, spoke to Prosser over a FaceTime call and showcased the new iOS 19 interface. Prosser supposedly recorded the call, recreating it via renders and then sharing it with the world.
For this, Ramacciotti seemingly 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.” Ramacciotti then proceeded to video call Prosser and show him iOS 19’s visual changes, which the latter recorded.
He then re-created renders of the video for publishing on his YouTube channel for monetary purposes. Additionally, “he shared the recordings with at least one person who reported back to Mr. Lipnik that he recognized Mr. Lipnik’s apartment in the recording.”
Ramacciotti supposedly admitted to all of this through an audio note to Lipnik, which the latter shared with Apple.
Apple’s lawsuit alleges that Lipnik’s development iPhone “contained a significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information.” It does not know how much data Prosser and Ramacciotti stole from Lipnik’s iPhone and fears they “will continue to misuse its trade secrets” without judicial intervention.
Apple has already fired Lipnik for failing to protect confidential information and for not disclosing the leak when he became aware of it.
On his part, Prosser commented on X, saying he did not plot to access Lipnik’s phone.
For the record: I certainly did not “plot” to access anyone’s phone and was unaware of the situation playing out.
– Jon Proser (@jon_proser) 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 #441 of Cult of Mac’s podcast, The CultCast, recorded in May 2020, Prosser revealed that Apple is working on a special pair of Steve Jobs Heritage Edition AR glasses.
At his peak, his leaks had a higher accuracy rating than even Mark Gurman, one of the best Apple reporters. And when one of his 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. We have reached out to him for more comments.
Source: Macrumors
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