by Apple has established its lawsuit against former iOS software -engineer Andrew Aude, who was accused of leaking confidential business information to the media (via 9to5mac).
The case, submitted in March 2024, was rejected after a settlement, in which Aude performed a public apology that recognized its misconduct.
Andrew Aude came to Apple in 2016 and worked on optimizing the battery performance for iOS devices. During his term of office, he had access to sensitive information about non -depicted products and functions. According to judicial documents, Aude shared confidential details between 2018 and 2023 with journalists from The Wall Street Journal And The information.
In his lawsuit, Apple claimed that Aude’s actions were intentional and focused on undermining products with which he did not agree. The company claimed that Aude sent more than 1400 coded messages to a journalist who was called “Homeboy” and more than 10,000 texts after another journalist.
The lawsuit also accused Aude of an attempt to destroy evidence. During an interview of November 2023 with Apple Investigators, Aude reportedly deleted considerable amounts of data from his work -IPhone, including the signal app used for his communication with journalists. After these revelations, Apple ended Aude’s work in December 2023.
On February 6, 2025, Aude placed a public apology on X (formerly Twitter) and stated:
“I spent almost eight years as a software engineer at Apple. During that time I gained access to sensitive internal Apple information, including what was then un -released products and functions. But instead of keeping this information secret, I made the mistake of sharing this information with journalists who have treated the company. I didn’t realize it then, but this turned out to be an in -depth and expensive mistake. Hundreds of professional relationships that I had spent for years were ruined. And my otherwise successful career as a software engineer was derailed and it will probably be very difficult to rebuild it. It wasn’t worth leaking. I sincerely apologize to my former colleagues who not only worked tirelessly on projects for Apple, but also hard work to keep them secret. They deserved better. “
The specific conditions of the settlement between Apple and Aude remain confidential. However, legal experts suggest that the public apology was probably a condition of the agreement.
Apple has a history of taking legal steps against employees and third parties that leak confidential information. The company argues that unauthorized disclosures can reduce the excitement around the launch of new products and offer competitors unfair benefits.
