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

Apple agreed to pay $25 million to Class action settlement Via the Family Sharing feature, which allows users and up to five members of their family to share access to the apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books they purchase. The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2019, alleged that “Apple misrepresented the ability to use its Family Sharing feature to share subscriptions in apps.”

The news was first published by MacRumors.

The lawsuit says Apple denies it made any misleading misrepresentations and “denies all allegations of wrongdoing.” The settlement agreement indicates that Apple concluded that continuing to defend this action would be burdensome and expensive. Apple enters into this Agreement without in any way admitting any fault, liability, or wrongdoing of any kind.

The tech giant did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Court documents from the lawsuit allege that Apple advertised Family Sharing as an option in apps that didn’t support Family Sharing.

“The vast majority of subscription-based apps, which represent a growing percentage of Apple’s apps, cannot be shared with designated family members,” the court document said. “It is only available to the individual user who downloads the app and sets up a subscription. However, all or almost all of these apps included a statement that they support Family Sharing on their landing pages through January 30, 2019.”

The lawsuit alleges that Apple was aware that subscription-based apps did not support Family Sharing, but still placed a Family Sharing ad on them. The court document goes on to note that “millions of consumers have downloaded subscription-based apps thinking they are available for family sharing, only to learn after making payment that they are not.”

US residents who were enrolled in a Family Sharing group with at least one other person between June 21, 2015 and January 30, 2019 and purchased an app subscription from the App Store during that period You may be eligible for payment. Eligible class members will receive an email this week.

Each class member who files a claim is eligible to receive $30, but this may vary depending on the number of people filing claims. However, the payment will not exceed $50 per class member, and $10 million of the settlement will go toward attorney fees.

Eligible class members have until March 1, 2024 to file a claim. The final approval hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2024.