In its lawsuit, Apple alleges that Andrew Aude accessed confidential data while working on battery optimization.
Apple has initiated legal action against a former employee, accusing them of divulging sensitive information, including undisclosed particulars about Apple’s Journal app and the development of the VisionOS headset, to journalists and staff at competing companies. The complaint, lodged in a California state court ten days ago (Case No. 24CV433319), asserts that Andrew Aude also disclosed strategies for regulatory compliance, employee counts, and hardware specifications of various products.
According to previous reports by MacRumors, Apple claims that Aude admitted to leaking information with the intention of undermining products and features he disagreed with.
Apple has cited numerous instances of communication in the lawsuit:
Between June and September 2023, Aude communicated with a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter, whom he referred to as “Homeboy,” more than 1,400 times using an encrypted messaging platform. Aude also shared a final feature list for an unreleased Apple product with “Homeboy” over the phone. Additionally, Aude exchanged over 10,000 text messages with another journalist from The Information and traveled across continents to meet with her.
The complaint includes a screenshot of an encrypted conversation between Aude and a WSJ journalist on the Signal app. Apple claims that Aude frequently captured and stored screenshots of his communications on his company-issued iPhone to preserve them.
Apple accuses Aude of divulging a finalized feature list of Apple’s Journal app during an April 2023 phone call with the same reporter, coinciding with a story on the app’s features appearing in The Wall Street Journal.
Aude joined Apple in 2016 as an iOS engineer specializing in battery optimization, which granted him access to sensitive product information, according to Apple’s legal team.
The leaks were not detected until late 2023, the company asserts. During an initial meeting with Apple representatives in November 2023, Aude allegedly denied involvement in the leaks and falsely claimed not to have his company-issued iPhone. Subsequently, during a restroom break, Aude retrieved his iPhone from his pocket and permanently deleted substantial evidence, including the Signal app.
During a second meeting on December 12th, Aude confessed to leaking information about Apple’s regulatory compliance strategies, unreleased products, development policies, and hardware specifications to at least two journalists. He was terminated three days later. Apple seeks a jury trial, damages, restitution and/or disgorgement of bonuses and stock options, and an injunction prohibiting Aude from disclosing Apple’s confidential information to third parties without written consent.
