An Adelaide schoolboy who hacked into Apple's secure computer system when he was just 13 years old has been urged to use his "significant talent" for good instead of evil.

Key points: The court heard the teen hacked into Apple's mainframe when he was 13

The court heard the teen hacked into Apple's mainframe when he was 13 His actions were reported to the FBI, who contacted the Australian Federal Police

His actions were reported to the FBI, who contacted the Australian Federal Police His lawyer says the teen hoped the company would offer him a job

The boy, who is now 17, faced the Adelaide Youth Court and pleaded guilty to multiple computer hacking charges.

The court heard he and another teenager from Melbourne hacked into the technology giant's mainframe in December 2015 and then again in early 2017 and downloaded internal documents and data.

It heard he used his "high level of expertise" in information technology to create false digital credentials which tricked Apple's server into thinking he was a company employee.

His actions were reported to the FBI who contacted the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Teen thought tech giant would offer him a job

The boy's lawyer Mark Twiggs told the court his client was not aware of the seriousness of his actions at the time and thought the company might offer him a job.

The court heard Apple did not incur any financial or intellectual loss from the hack. ( AP: Mary Altaffer )

"This offending started when my client was 13 years of age, a very young age," he said.

"He had no idea about the seriousness of the offence and hoped that when it was discovered that he might gain employment at this company.

"He didn't know this was going to lead to anything other than a job at the end of it, [this] happened in Europe, a similar person got caught and they ended up getting employed by the company."

The court heard Apple did not incur any financial or intellectual loss from the hack.

Mr Twiggs called for his client to be spared a conviction because he planned to study cyber security and criminology at university and a criminal record could impact his employment opportunities in the future.

"My client is remorseful," he said.

"He's got amazing skills in relation to this … he wants to use his talents for good."

'He is clearly a gifted individual'

Magistrate David White did not record a conviction and placed him on a $500 bond to be of good behaviour for nine months.

"He is clearly someone who is a gifted individual when it comes to information technology, that being said, those who have this advantage of being gifted doesn't give them the right to abuse that gift," he said.

"The manner in which the world functions is one that is heavily reliant on computer technology and those who unlawfully interfere with those systems can do enormous amounts of damage."

Magistrate White said that he accepted that the boy was highly regarded at his school and since the offending he had used his technology talents in a positive way.

"You must remain on the straight and narrow and use your gifts for good rather than evil," he said.

The boy's accomplice was also spared a conviction when dealt with through the Children's Court of Victoria.

When contacted by the ABC, Apple said it would not like to comment on the case in court today, but did provide a statement it made in relation to the case in Victoria last year.

"At Apple, we vigilantly protect our networks and have dedicated teams of information security professionals that work to detect and respond to threats," the statement said.

"In this case, our teams discovered the unauthorized access, contained it, and reported the incident to law enforcement.

"We regard the data security of our users as one of our greatest responsibilities and want to assure our customers that at no point during this incident was their personal data compromised."