Apple agrees to pay $25 million to settle Family Sharing class action lawsuit

In a legal settlement announced today, the tech giant Manjana It has pledged to pay $25 million to end a class-action lawsuit over the company’s ‘Family Sharing’ feature.

The case, called “Walter Peters v. Apple Inc,” was filed in California’s Superior Court in 2019 and revolved around developers’ desire to disable the ability to share subscriptions and purchases with other family members.

Family Sharing gives you the ability to share subscriptions to Apple services between you and up to five additional family members. These services include Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple News Plus, Apple Card and Apple Arcade. Additionally, this feature allows sharing of subscriptions to third-party apps, as long as the app developer allows it. It was on this last aspect that the lawsuit disagreed, arguing that Apple had undermined Apple’s ability to share subscriptions to non-Apple-branded apps.

Users found this feature confusing and felt it was a distortion of terms and conditions. Despite denying any wrongdoing, Apple decided to settle to avoid additional costs associated with continued litigation.

The agreed upon $25 million, including attorneys’ fees, will be distributed among all parties involved in the case.

The deal covers users who participated in ‘Family Sharing’ in the US from June 2015 to January 2019. These users are compensated from $10 to $50 depending on various criteria.

Eligible customers will receive an email notification with more details about the deal. If you have not received such notice and are deemed eligible, you have the option to register on the class website by print and mail. Corresponding form. The deadline to file the claim is March 1, 2024, and a hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2024 to finalize the deal.