July 5, 2024
A British man identified only as “Richard” was married, but that didn’t stop him from employing the services of escorts. He was smart about it, though: to keep his messages with his companions confidential, he used the iMessage feature on his iPhone, and then deleted the messages after the conversation ended. It was foolproof.
Or so he thought.
Evidently, our friend “Richard” was not aware that Apple’s ecosystem automatically synchronized his messaging history with the family iMac. The Times of London reports that his wife saw a message from one of his lady friends when she opened iMessage on the iMac and, upon further investigation, saw years of messages to sex workers, revealing a long period of infidelity by her husband. Unsurprisingly, she filed for divorce.
So, “Richard” is doing what any sane person would do under the circumstances. He’s suing Apple, alleging that his “superb” marriage ended because Apple didn’t delete the messages as he had supposed. “If you are told a message is deleted, you are entitled to believe it’s deleted,” he is quoted as saying.
He is seeking the £5 million ($6 million) he lost in the divorce, plus legal fees.