In an astonishing twist, a British man, referred to as “Richard,” is suing Apple after his wife discovered messages to prostitutes on their family iMac, leading to a divorce. Richard, who began using the services of prostitutes in the later years of his marriage, attempted to hide his activities by deleting the incriminating iMessages from his iPhone. However, Apple’s ecosystem synchronized his deleted messages across all connected devices, including the iMac his wife accessed.
The Times reports that Richard’s wife stumbled upon the messages on the iMac, revealing years of infidelity. Within a month, she filed for divorce, resulting in Richard losing more than £5 million ($6.37 million), allegedly due to his clandestine activities. Richard is now attempting to hold Apple accountable, arguing that the company failed to adequately warn users about the synchronization of deleted messages across devices. He is not only seeking to reclaim his financial losses but also rallying other men in similar situations to join a class-action lawsuit.
This claim, however, appears unfounded. Apple’s support pages clearly state that messages deleted from one device can still appear on others if iCloud synchronization is enabled. Users can delete messages from iCloud entirely, but Richard evidently did not take these precautions. The ability to “unsend” messages also exists, though the timeframe is short, intended for correcting immediate errors.
Richard asserts that clearer messaging from Apple about the deletion process could have prevented the exposure of his infidelity. He describes his wife’s discovery as a “very brutal way” to find out and suggests the marriage might have survived if he had had the chance to address the issue rationally.
Despite the dubious nature of his claims, Richard has enlisted the help of London-based law firm Rosenblatt to pursue legal action against Apple. Simon Walton of Rosenblatt argues that Apple misleads users about message deletion, a claim that contradicts available Apple documentation and basic user knowledge.
The likelihood of success for such a lawsuit is slim, given the clear terms set by Apple regarding message synchronization. Nonetheless, Richard’s case underscores the potential personal ramifications of technology and the importance of understanding how digital ecosystems operate.
