If you ever enrolled in the Apple Family Sharing with a family member between 2015 and 2019, you may entitled to a cut from the $25 million legal settlement Apple agreed to pay. MacRumors did some math and claims you could get between $30 to $50 if you qualify.
The lawsuit claims that Apple misrepresented the full extent of its Family Sharing feature. Up until now, it claimed that it allows all family members to subscribe to any third-party app, while it was recently found that app developers ultimately decide whether or not they want to grant access to their app’s subscription being shared. They’re also in control of how family members share that subscription.
Apple still denies any wrongdoing despite agreeing to settle the class action lawsuit for $25 million.
Following a legal settlement that was finally reached, Apple is now required to pay all of its class members a cut from this $25 million lawsuit. According to the official legal settlement notice, you qualify as a class member if: 1) you were enrolled in a Family Sharing group with at least one other person between June 21, 2015, and January 30, 2019, 2) you were a U.S. resident during that time 3) bought a subscription to a third-party app (other than one published by Apple) on the App Store during that time. If that sounds like a lot to take in, don’t worry; you would’ve gotten an email with a call to action if you qualify.
To receive your money, head to the legal settlement notice and click on where it says “HERE” in the first row of the “Your Legal Rights and Options in This Settlement” table. You’ll then be directed to a Payment Election Form where you’re supposed to pick one option out of the Payment ID and Pin choices you’re given right at the top, based on what suits you best—submitting online or mailing a physical copy. You can find your Payment ID and PIN in the email with the call to action that is sent to you. If you don’t see it, there’s also an option for that.
Once you’ve made a choice on how you wish to submit the form and entered both your ID and pin in the highlighted fields, click Next at the top and fill in our contact and billing information to get paid. You can choose between a check or direct deposit. And you’re done.
The most important thing in all of this is that there’s a deadline to submit your claim. You have until March 1, 2024. Since it takes just a few minutes, we recommend you do it as soon as possible so you don’t miss your chance.