Apple agreed to pay $25 million Settling a class action lawsuit With its Family Sharing feature, users and up to five of their family members can share access to their purchased apps, music, movies, TV shows and books. The lawsuit, first filed in 2019, alleged that Apple “misrepresented the ability to use its Family Sharing feature to share app subscriptions.”
This news was first reported Macroomers.
Apple denies making any false misrepresentations and “denies all allegations of wrongdoing,” the suit says. The settlement agreement states, “Apple has determined that the continued defense of this action would be burdensome and costly. Apple enters into this settlement without admitting any fault, liability or wrongdoing of any kind.”
The tech giant did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Court documents in the case allege that Apple advertised Family Sharing as an option in apps that didn’t support Family Sharing.
“Most subscription-based apps, a growing percentage of Apple apps, cannot be shared with designated family members,” the court document says. “They are only available to the individual user who downloads the app and sets up a subscription. However, all or nearly all of these apps included a statement on their landing pages supporting family sharing as of January 30, 2019.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple knew subscription-based apps didn’t support Family Sharing, but still posted an ad for Family Sharing on them. “Millions of consumers have downloaded subscription-based apps believing they were available for Family Sharing, only to find they weren’t as available after paying,” the court document states.
US residents who signed up for 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 time 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 how many people file claims. However, the fee for each class member will not exceed $50, and $10 million of the settlement will go toward attorney fees.
Eligible class members have until March 1, 2024 to file a claim. A final approval hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2024.
