British man sues Apple after wife discovers messages to sex workers on family computer

He’s seeking more than £5m in compensation

A British businessman has decided to sue Apple after his wife discovered some illicit messages on the family computer.

The unnamed man had sent iMessages to sex workers from his iPhone but landed himself in extremely hot water when these also appeared on the family iMac.

He claims Apple’s lack of transparency over deleted messages led to his wife filing for divorce.

The Times reports that the man deleted the messages from his phone, but he wasn’t aware they would still be visible on other Apple devices linked to the same account, thanks to the synchronisation between devices.

According to the Times, his wife found years’ worth of messages to prostitutes on the family computer, revealing he had been cheating on her for a prolonged period of time.

He told the publication: “If you are told a message is deleted, you are entitled to believe it’s deleted.

“My thoughts are if I had been able to talk to her rationally and she had not had such a brutal realisation of it, I might still be married.”

He claims Apple isn’t transparent about the fact that deleting messages on one device doesn’t mean they are deleted on other Apple devices.

The middle-aged man said the company should make this clear, and he is suing the tech giant for more than £5m in compensation for the losses incurred from his divorce and legal costs.

“If the message had said ‘These messages are deleted on this device’ that would have been a clue,” the husband said. “‘These messages are deleted on this device only’ would have been a much clearer indicator.”

He’s also encouraging others to join him in the lawsuit, after hearing of similar experiences, such as one man’s iPhone messages appearing on an Apple TV that his wife was watching.