Former Apple iOS engineer apologizes after rejecting lawsuit

Last March, Apple sued a former employee, an iOS software developer who had leaked confidential information to the Wall Street Journal and The Information. Almost a year later, this lawsuit was dismissed and the engineer has apologized.

An Apple Insider Revealed Details About the "Journal" App, Vision Pro, and More

Andrew Aude previously worked as an iOS software developer at Apple. As we reported last year, during his employment he sent thousands of messages to journalists at the Wall Street Journal and The Information containing confidential information.

Aude was clearly the source behind a report on Apple's Journal app before its release. He also leaked details about Vision Pro and "spatial computing" as well as further leaks.

In their lawsuit, Apple accused Aude of leaking "information about more than half a dozen different Apple policies and products."

But now the case has been dismissed after a settlement was reached, according to public records.

Not coincidentally, Aude published the following apology on X yesterday.

I worked as a software engineer at Apple for almost eight years. During that time, I had access to sensitive internal information from Apple, including products and features that were not yet released. Instead of keeping this information confidential, I made the mistake of sharing it with journalists who reported on the company. At the time, I was not aware of this, but it turned out to be a profound and costly mistake. Hundreds of professional relationships that I had built up over years were ruined. And my otherwise successful career as a software engineer was stopped, and it will likely be very difficult to rebuild it. The leak wasn't worth it. I sincerely apologize to my former colleagues who not only worked tirelessly on projects for Apple but also worked hard to keep them secret. They deserved better.

The details of the settlement are unknown, but the above apology was likely a condition for it.

For more details about Apple's lawsuit against whistleblowers and Aude's story, read our original reporting here.

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