The way Apple combines work and personal iCloud accounts left some employees able to access confidential documents after departing the company, reports The Information. The site spoke to more than half a dozen former Apple employees who were unknowingly left with access to sensitive content.
The former employees said many Apple files they had been shared on over their careers at the company—including planning documents for product launch events—continued to sync to their personal devices through the iCloud storage service after they left Apple. In some cases, they even received notifications about fresh updates to the documents. Some former employees said they were petrified to delete the files for fear that doing so would attract Apple's attention.
Apple files get mixed in with employees' accounts because the company encourages them to use their personal Apple Accounts with their work iCloud account. Employees are given a 2TB iCloud plan and are able to merge the storage with their existing Apple Account or create a new account. Since only one primary account can be signed in at a time, most opt to use their existing account to avoid having to carry two iPhones.
Apple has a managed folder for workplace files that it revokes access to when an employee leaves, but some internal documents aren't saved there automatically and shared files end up mixed in with personal content. Employees can also retain access to iMessage chats and files shared via the Messages app.
Lingering access to Apple systems is central to Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI. In its filing, Apple alleged that former employee Chang Liu breached Apple's systems using a "rare, previously unknown authentication bug" to download files while he was working at OpenAI.
Apple told The Information that the OpenAI lawsuit is unrelated to any files left available on iCloud and that it does not pursue legal claims against former employees who accidentally have Apple documents in their personal iCloud accounts.
This case is about OpenAI employees wrongfully taking Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products. Nothing in the filing relates to documents shared by, or stored in, iCloud.
Former employees say Apple does not do a thorough enough job going through personal devices to remove sensitive files that have been stored in iCloud. In a now-settled legal dispute, chip company Rivos claimed Apple intentionally lets former employees retain access to files "as part of a planned effort to generate a pretextual basis to sue the employees and their new employer for 'stealing' Apple material." In the Rivos case, an employee was targeted for keeping work files in his personal iCloud account.
Another former Apple employee sued by Apple, Gerard Williams, countersued and accused the company of using intimidation tactics to scare people thinking of leaving. Apple sued Williams for breach of contract after he started processor company Nuvia, presenting extensive phone and text records of his communications. The court rejected Williams' claim, and Apple dropped the case in 2023.
In 2025, Apple also accused former Vision Pro engineer Di Liu of downloading thousands of corporate documents to his personal cloud storage shortly before leaving the company for Snap.
The Information does not outright suggest Apple is purposefully allowing former employees to retain access to iCloud files, but points out that Apple's use of iCloud for file sharing and its incomplete wiping of employee accounts are at odds with its heavy focus on privacy and security.
