Apple settles Family Sharing lawsuit with $25 million fund

Apple has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit over Family Sharing, agreeing to pay out $25 million to the class to put the matter to rest. Here's how to see if you qualify for your share.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2019 in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. The litigation — "Walter Peters v. Apple Inc.," No. 19STCV21787, alleged that "Apple misrepresented to users their ability to use Family Sharing to share subscriptions to certain apps with other members of their Family Sharing groups."

Apple, for its part, denied any wrongdoing. It agreed to the settlement after concluding that "continuing to defend this Action would be burdensome and expensive."

So, Apple's putting $25 million into an account to be disbursed to class members. There is a fairly wide class of Apple customers who qualify for the settlement.

"All persons who initiated the purchase of a subscription to an app through the Apple App Store, excluding subscriptions to first-party Apple apps, during the period June 21, 2015 through January 30, 2019, while enrolled in a Family Sharing group that had at least one other member at the time of the purchase, and who Apple's records indicate were resident in the United States at the time of the purchase," reads the settlement.

A website has been set up with details about your legal rights and options, along with links to a payment election form.

No consumer is going to get more than $50 out of the deal, and it will likely be a lot less. The lawyers and administrators associated with this paperwork are going to do just great, though.