Apple has initiated a lawsuit against Andrew Aude, a former iOS engineer, accusing him of leaking confidential details. The leaked information allegedly includes undisclosed aspects of Apple’s Journal app and the VisionOS headset, among other things. The lawsuit, lodged in a California state court about ten days ago, asserts that Aude also disclosed regulatory compliance strategies, employee numbers, and other product hardware specifics.
As per earlier reports by MacRumors, Apple claims that Aude admitted to leaking information with the intent to “terminate” products and features he disagreed with.
From June to September 2023, Aude reportedly interacted with a Wall Street Journal journalist, whom he nicknamed “Homeboy,” over 1,400 times via an encrypted messaging app
The lawsuit cites numerous instances of communication:
From June to September 2023, Aude reportedly interacted with a Wall Street Journal journalist, whom he nicknamed “Homeboy,” over 1,400 times via an encrypted messaging app. Aude is also said to have read out a final feature list for an unannounced Apple product to “Homeboy” over the phone. Additionally, Aude allegedly sent over 10,000 text messages to another journalist at The Information and even traveled across the country to meet her.
Apple accuses Aude of leaking a finalized feature list for Apple’s Journal app during a phone call with the same reporter in April 2023. A story about the yet-to-be-released app’s features was published in The Wall Street Journal that same month.
Aude, who joined Apple in 2016 as an iOS engineer specializing in optimizing battery performance, had access to “information regarding dozens of Apple’s most sensitive products” due to the nature of his role, according to Apple’s legal team.
Apple claims that the leaks weren’t discovered until late 2023. During an initial meeting with Aude in November 2023, he allegedly denied his involvement in the leaks and lied about having his Apple-issued iPhone on him. Apple further alleges that Aude feigned a bathroom break, during which he “extracted his iPhone from his pocket and permanently deleted significant amounts of evidence from his device,” including the Signal app.
In a subsequent meeting on December 12th, Aude reportedly confessed to leaking information about Apple’s regulatory compliance strategies, unannounced products, development policies, and hardware characteristics of certain released products to at least two journalists. He was dismissed three days later. Apple’s filing indicates that the company is seeking a jury trial, damages, “restitution and/or disgorgement” of bonuses and stock options, and an order prohibiting Aude from disclosing Apple’s confidential and proprietary information to third parties without its written consent.
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