Usually I'd be 'screw apple' for this sort of headline, but really, stealing from your friend, getting him fired, and then selling the stolen info to some dorky YouTuber is just stupid.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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According to the suit, Ramacciotti was in need of money, and had a friend named Ethan Lipnik who worked at Apple as a software engineer on the Photos team – two facts that Prosser was aware of when he allegedly offered to pay Ramacciotti to break into Lipnik's development iPhone and show Prosser what the version of iOS running on the device looked like.
Ramacciotti, who frequently stayed at Lipnik's home, allegedly used location-tracking software to determine when Lipnik was far enough from home to be gone for an extended period. During such windows, he allegedly used the opportunity to obtain the passcode and access the device.
Apple isn’t a very pro WFH or remote work company from what I learned when I was job hunting, I’m honestly surprised they let a dev iPhone leave their campus.
You can read it two ways:
- gee they’re so WFH friendly
- they drive their people hard and they work nights and weekends
Former Apple employee here, hardware is almost never let off campus but software alone can be. For example software engineers working on iOS, like this guy, would probably have development builds installed on their personal devices. It's allowed but you're obviously not supposed to let anyone else see or use the new features.
There was a big scandal some years back because an Apple employee left a prototype phone at the bar/restaurant next to the campus, so they definitely do it. I’m a bit surprised that they didn’t crack down harder after that incident, but to be fair to this guy, he didn’t take it out and about and just took it home. I can’t say I’d be overly worried about something happening to it if it was just at my house, but I also don’t have people crashing with me frequently…
I’m a bit surprised that they didn’t crack down harder after that incident
That incident was 15 years ago It's entirely possible that they did tighten things up, but relaxed those changes after several years. Probably not relaxed now, though...
Knock it off with that making me feel old stuff, geeze man. (Holy shit, it’s been 15 years?!)
Remember that one, but honestly: not worth much testing a device exclusively in laboratory settings and not in real life situations.
It is a risk but I think not one you can and should avoid. At least if you want your mobile device to perform.
Yeah, when I was working for one major smartphone manufacturer, we were handed prototype phones to take home and test.
A long time ago I did some work that involved apple v Samsung and they were pretty strict about even showing a dev device over a voip call.
Exterior window blinds had to be shut, screens set up on the interior so you couldn’t see through the doors, no recording devices, legal representation on-site to verify.
Oh man, and the “scoop” was so underwhelming anyway
What a friend lol