The case had been scheduled to go to trial on 16 August with Jobs' Mob declaring it would shut down the companies “virtualised” iPhone business, which allows researchers to test iPhone software on computers, instead of on actual iPhone devices.

The terms of the settlement were confidential. An email from the Corellium sales team confirmed the company was still selling its virtual iOS devices.

No one is saying anything about the case. The Tame Apple Press bragged that Corellium was previously facing the prospect of years of expensive and drawn out legal action.

However many in the security research community saw the lawsuit as having a chilling effect on independent research.

For those who came in late, Apple alleged in its lawsuit that Corellium violated its copyrights and that its products were a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is meant to protect entertainment companies from online piracy.

Apple’s lawyers accused the company of selling its products to government agencies that could have used the software to find flaws in Apple software, according to court records.

What got Apple’s goat was when it was making a big thing about defending the privacy of the dead terrorists responsible for the 2015 San Bernardino attack  Corellium’s co-founders, David Wang, helped the FBI unlock an iPhone.

Apple also alleged Corellium circumvented Apple’s security measures to create the software, thereby violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Corellium denied that accusation, which would have been a key point of debate at trial.

In December, US District Judge Rodney Smith dismissed Apple’s copyright claims, calling some of Apple’s legal arguments “puzzling, if not disingenuous”. But Smith allowed Apple’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims move forward.

Apple initially attempted to acquire Corellium in 2018, according to court records. Corellium turned Apple down.

Apple has long marketed its phones as secure. But The Pegasus Project, an investigative effort involving The Washington Post and 16 newsrooms around the world, revealed new details about how foreign governments use hacking tools to crack into iPhones to spy on journalists, dissidents and other political enemies.