Camo maker Reincubate sues Apple for copying Continuity Camera

London-based software developer Reincubate filed a federal lawsuit in New Jersey on Jan. 29, 2026, accusing Apple of copying its smartphone-as-webcam technology, infringing patents and using control of its operating systems and App Store to block competition. The complaint combines patent-infringement claims with antitrust allegations that Apple steered users toward its built-in Continuity Camera and away from interoperable third-party options like Camo.

Reincubate says it launched Camo in 2020 and later expanded the product family with Camo Studio and Streamlight to let iOS and Android phones serve as high-quality webcams for Mac and Windows computers. Apple introduced Continuity Camera in 2022, a first-party feature that enables iPhones to act as webcams for Macs but, unlike Camo, operates only within Apple’s device ecosystem. The complaint highlights that distinction, arguing Camo provided cross-platform interoperability while Continuity Camera is platform-tied.

The suit alleges patent infringement and, according to one report, names two U.S. patents. It also accuses Apple of a sequence of conduct in which Apple initially encouraged Reincubate and tested Camo internally before integrating similar features into its own software. Reincubate’s founder and chief executive, Aidan Fitzpatrick, summarized the company’s position in a blog post quoted in the complaint: “The tl;dr is we’re suing Apple on patent infringement and antitrust grounds. Apple hopped on Camo when it was still in beta, encouraged us to go all in, had thousands of staff run it internally, nominated it for an innovation award, and made all sorts of promises about how they’d help.”

The complaint includes the assertion that “Camo was used by thousands of Apple employees, across all divisions of the company,” and alleges Apple later “used its control over its operating systems and App Store to disadvantage that interoperable solution and redirect user demand to Apple’s own platform-tied offering.” The Verge quoted the complaint as saying Apple “took steps not only to copy it, thereby infringing Reincubate’s patents, but also to undermine Camo’s functionality such that Reincubate could not compete with Apple’s rip-off, called Continuity Camera, which was only operable between Apple devices and Mac computers.”

Reincubate frames the complaint as more than a dispute over features. Attorneys for the company wrote in the filing that Apple has long operated a “closed iPhone platform and ecosystem” that helped build its immense market value, noting an “approximately $3.7 trillion market cap as of the date of filing of this complaint.” The suit argues that restricting interoperability preserves device lock-in and suppresses competitors whose innovations would otherwise weaken that lock-in.

Apple issued a brief statement in response, saying: “We strongly disagree with the allegations and believe the lawsuit is baseless. Apple competes fairly while respecting the intellectual property rights of others, and these camera features were developed internally by Apple engineers.” The company did not supply further detail in the quoted response.

The case will proceed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The complaint as reported does not list patent numbers or specify the relief Reincubate is seeking in detail. The dispute touches a recurring industry tension: platform owners adding native features that emulate third-party apps, a pattern critics have called “Sherlocking,” raising legal questions about when platform integration crosses the line into unlawful exclusion or infringement.