Apple sues former engineer for leaking products he hated

Apple filed a lawsuit earlier this month against former software engineer Andrew Aude, alleging he leaked info about products he hated to a journalist saved in his phone as “Homeboy.”

Apple has demanded a jury trial and seeks damages in excess of $25,000.

Joe Rossignol for MacRumors:


Aude joined Apple as an iOS software engineer in 2016, shortly after graduating college… The lawsuit alleges that over a five-year period, Aude used his Apple-issued work iPhone to leak information about more than a half-dozen Apple products and policies, including its then-unannounced Journal app and Vision Pro headset, product development policies, strategies for regulatory compliance, employee headcounts, and more.

In April 2023, for example, Apple alleges that Aude leaked a list of finalized features for the iPhone’s Journal app to a journalist at The Wall Street Journal on a phone call. That same month, The Wall Street Journal‘s Aaron Tilley published a report titled “Apple Plans iPhone Journaling App in Expansion of Health Initiatives.”

Using the encrypted messaging app Signal, Aude is said to have sent “over 1,400” messages to the same journalist, who Aude referred to as “Homeboy.” He is also accused of sending “over 10,000 text messages” to another journalist at the website The Information, and he allegedly traveled “across the continent” to meet with her…

Apple believes that Aude’s actions were “extensive and purposeful,” with Aude allegedly admitting that he leaked information so he could “kill” products and features with which he took issue.

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MacDailyNews Take: Word to the wise: Using your Apple-issued work iPhone to leak Apple secrets is asking for it.

The Apple Inc. v. Andrew Aude complaint (MacRumors via Scribd) is here.

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