Apple Users, You Might Soon Be Eligible For Part Of $14.8M iCloud Settlement

Photo 214331508 © Boehnerthomas | Dreamstime.com

Are you on an upgraded iCloud plan? You could have a small payout rolling in from Apple in the next few months.

Thanks or no thanks to the class-action lawsuit of Williams v. Apple, the tech giant might have to distribute a US$14.8 million settlement among affected users. The final hearing for the case is expected to take place on August 4, CNET reports.

Apple is being sued by unhappy users who discovered that its iCloud+ service isn’t powered in-house. Rather, the company uses external cloud platforms like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft’s Azure—which means it’s been uploading subscribers’ data on third-party servers instead of storing it in its own infrastructure.

Plaintiffs argued that Apple failed to disclose this in its terms and conditions, as well as marketing materials. The company has since updated its terms to confirm that it uses—or in its opposers’ words, “merely resell[s]”—the services of third-party cloud programs to support iCloud’s storage.

The plaintiffs asserted that, had they been made aware that Apple was tapping on other services, they wouldn’t have paid a premium. They accused Apple of hiding this information so customers would buy into iCloud+’s perceived prestige. 

Eligibility

Payouts are applicable for US residents who were subscribed to iCloud+, meaning they upgraded from the free 5GB storage service, anytime from September 16, 2015, and January 31, 2016.

If you think you’re eligible for the settlement, all you have to do right now is wait for an email informing you that you are a class member. Just make sure that the email address you used to register for iCloud+ those years back is still active.

How much you’ll get depends on the duration of your subscription, the tier you signed up for, and the total number of class members involved in this settlement. Take note that it’ll likely amount to petty cash, though, since 50GB of monthly storage cost only 99 cents back in the day, with 200GB and 1TB capacities priced at US$2.99 and US$9.99 respectively.

Participants will have the option of receiving their claims by ACH transfer or check.

According to Macworld, Apple continues to deny that it violated its iCloud contract.

[via CNET and Macworld, cover photo 214331508 © Boehnerthomas | Dreamstime.com]