A man in England is suing Apple for $6.3 million, blaming the iPhone maker for his costly divorce. First reported by UK-based publication, The Times, the anonymous individual claims that his wife discovered his infidelity with sex workers through their shared iMac, where his iMessages remained despite being deleted from his iPhone. Unaware that Apple’s sync feature keeps messages across devices with the same Apple ID, he was caught off-guard when his wife stumbled upon the evidence and subsequently filed for divorce.
The man has reportedly called upon London-based law firm Rosenblatt to take legal action against the iPhone maker.
The lawsuit centers on the argument that iMessage’s functionality lacks clarity regarding message deletion across devices. The man believes that had the discovery been less shocking, there might have been a chance to salvage the marriage. He argues that for his wife “it was a very brutal way of finding out. My thoughts are that 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.”
“If you are told a message is deleted you are entitled to believe it’s deleted,” the man told The Times. “If the message had said: These messages are deleted on this device,’ that would have been a clue,” Richard added. “These messages are deleted on this device only” would have been a much clearer indicator,” he continued.
He is now seeking legal action to hold Apple accountable and is considering a class-action lawsuit to represent others who may have faced similar situations due to technological misunderstandings. He wants to establish a class-action lawsuit for other men who don’t know how to work their phones.
How to ensure iMessages are deleted across devices
Apple device users who may not want to share their messages with the entire household should either not sync their texts across devices, or make sure iCloud for Messages is turned on, which will delete messages across devices. Activate it via Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Show All > Messages in iCloud > Use on This iPhone.