Apple's $100M settlement with developers gets preliminary approval

Apple's proposed $100 million payment to settle a lawsuit brought against the company by App Store developers has received preliminary approval from the judge presiding over the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Tuesday gave her preliminary approval for the settlement, which would create a $100 million developer fund that app makers can access based on their App Store revenue history.

Developers who made $1 million or less from the App Store in the U.S. between June 2015 and April 2021 stand to receive payments between $250 and $30,000.

Eligible developers can sign up to be alerted when the settlement receives final approval. There's already a website for developers to accept claims once the settlement gets the official green light, though it's not currently active.

In addition to the $100 million developer fund, the settlement also makes some App Store policy concessions, including expanded pricing options for apps and a pledge to continue a 15% small business commission. The company will also release an App Store Transparency Report that will include key statistics about the app review process, customer accounts, and more.

Although the lawsuit originated in the U.S. back in 2019, the App Store changes will apply to developers globally.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers is also presiding over the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, which both companies have appealed. Although Apple largely came out on top, the judge's ruling required that the company nix its prohibition on in-app links or buttons for alternative payments.

Preliminary Approval of Set... by Mikey Campbell

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4 Comments

sflocal 6135 comments · 16 Years

About 3 years ago

So do the plaintiff's lawyers still get their 30% cut from that settlement for attorney fees?

mcdave 1927 comments · 19 Years

Apple should have only conceded fee% in return for broader device category (iOS/iPadOS/macOS/watchOS/tvOS) & 1st party framework support by the developer;

1 device = 30%

2 devices = 25%

3 devices = 20%

4 devices = 15%

But only for genuine UIKit/Auth/ApplePay Apps.

ronn 684 comments · 20 Years

sflocal said:

So do the plaintiff's lawyers still get their 30% cut from that settlement for attorney fees?

It appears so. Looks like the class will get at least $68m with $2m going to the class administrator to set up the website, distribute payments to developers, etc.

Kinda weird that some very small developers will receive a minimum payment more than twice their App Store earnings:

6.2.1 A Settlement Class Member who earned Proceeds of no more than $100.00 from all of their Associated Developer Accounts will receive a minimum payment of $250.00.
6.2.2 A Settlement Class Member who earned Proceeds of between $100.01 and $1,000.00 from all of their Associated Developer Accounts will receive a minimum payment of $500.00.

The biggest takeaway for developers is Apple halving commissions for small developers for at least three years and implementing a more transparent review process.

geekmee 646 comments · 13 Years

Epic v. Apple,
What’s next Wendy’s v. McDonald’s?…
with Wendy suing McDonald’s for allowing McDonald’s to sell their sandwiches, but not allowing customers to pay at Wendy’s websites for their McDonald delivered sandwiches.

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