Apple has agreed to pay out $25 million after it settled a class action lawsuit that accused the company of misrepresenting the ability to use its Family Sharing feature to share subscriptions to third party apps.
As part of the settlement, Apple has agreed to pay out to people who participated in a Family Sharing group with at least one other person and had a subscription to the app through its App Store between June 21, 2015, and January 30, 2019.
You also had to have been a US resident during that time.
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No one’s to get rich off of the settlement, however - each class action remember is expected to get roughly $30, although that number could vary depending on the number of claims made.
Around $10 million of the settlement will be going towards attorney fees, according to the class action’s FAQ page.
Emails are currently being sent out to eligible customers and if you receive one, you’ll have until March 1 to file a claim.
However, the final approval hearing isn’t until April 2, so you won’t receive any cash after that.
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Family Sharing was introduced in June 2014 and allows up to six family members to share subscriptions to Apple services, like Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple Card, as well as to third party apps.
The lawsuit was filed because the claimants argued that the company misrepresented the ability to share subscriptions to non-Apple apps, as the company allows developers to opt out of the feature.
The lawsuit claimed that Apple placed the advertisement for Family Sharing “and/or demanded that the software developer place the advertisement on the landing pages of virtually all subscription-based Apps” even though Apple “was aware that the vast majority of subscription-based Apps did not support family sharing”.
This led people to believe that they could purchase subscriptions that they could share with family members even when many third party apps did not support this, the lawsuit claimed.
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Apple denies that it made any misleading misrepresentations and denies all allegations of wrongdoing.
If you don’t receive an email about the settlement and believe you’re eligible for compensation, you can register on the class action lawsuit’s website by printing out and mailing in a form by March 1.
Apple has been contacted for comment.