Apple’s Plan to Pay $100 Million to Settle Developer Lawsuit Gets Preliminary Approval From Judge

Back in August, Apple said that it would pay out $100 million and make several changes to the App Store to settle a class-action lawsuit brought about by developers, and the settlement offer received preliminary approval yesterday from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers, who is overseeing that case in addition to the Epic v. Apple lawsuit.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will create a $100 million “fund,” which developers can access based on their historic ‌App Store‌ proceeds. Developers who earned $1 million or less through the U.S. storefront for their apps in every calendar year between June 4, 2015 and April 26, 2021 can receive between $250 and $30,000. Higher payments will be made to those who have participated more extensively in the ‌App Store‌ ecosystem.

Eligible developers will be able to make claims when the settlement receives final approval, and can sign up to be alerted when claims are being accepted through a website created for the lawsuit.

In addition to paying $100 million, Apple agreed to maintain the ‌App Store‌ Small Business Program in its current structure for the next three years, and it will allow developers to use communication methods like email to share information about payment methods available outside of their iOS apps.

Other terms include more ‌App Store‌ pricing options, the publication of an annual transparency report based on ‌App Store‌ data, and tools that allow developers to appeal the rejection of an app. Full details on what Apple has agreed to can be found in our original settlement article.

The lawsuit dates back to 2019, when a group of iOS developers accused Apple of using its ‌App Store‌ monopoly to impose “profit-killing” commissions. The developers were unhappy with Apple’s 30 percent cut, an issue that was largely resolved when Apple introduced the App Store Small Business Program and cut commissions to 15 percent for developers making under $1 million in a given calendar year.

Going forward, briefs, papers, and memoranda in support of the final approval of the settlement must be filed by April 29, 2022, and a Fairness and Final Approval Hearing will take place on June 7, 2022. If and when final approval is granted, developers will begin to receive money from Apple.Tags: App Store, lawsuit
This article, “Apple’s Plan to Pay $100 Million to Settle Developer Lawsuit Gets Preliminary Approval From Judge” first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

MacRumors-All?d=6W8y8wAjSf4 MacRumors-All?d=qj6IDK7rITs

Related posts

Latest posts

Apple’s Vision Pro is getting the M5 chip, but that’s not what it really needs

Apple’s M5 chip is coming to the Vision Pro, but that’s not the change the headset really needs. Instead, Apple should be prioritizing a more affordable model.

This music app is doing something different in the Apple App Store

A new music app called Practice Pro has decided against the popular freemium model, and gone in a different direction to attract downloads.

The U.K. wants unchecked access to all iPhones worldwide

Using an infamous legal provision, the UK government has reportedly ordered Apple to let it access encrypted cloud data of all iPhone users across the globe.

This One UI 7 update just made my Galaxy S25 Ultra way more fun

Good Lock's updated Home Up module brings new ways to experiement with your home screen on the Galaxy S25 series, and I'm hooked.

Your smartwatch will soon be able to detect signs of heart failure

Fresh research details a method than can detect congestive heart failure (CHF) using smartwatch ECG data with an impressive 90% accuracy in patients.

This Acer Predator gaming PC with RTX 4070 Ti Super is $350 off

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 gaming PC, featuring the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card and 32GB of RAM, is on sale from Best Buy at $350 off.

New iPad Air incoming? There’s a low stock warning

The next iPad Air could be revealed in just a few weeks.

Samsung might return to all-Exynos for its Galaxy S26 lineup

Samsung has seen successful early yields with the Exynos 2600, its in-house chip slated for use with the Galaxy S26.

Google Messages might let you unsend awkward messages in RCS chats

Google Messages could receive a "delete for everyone" feature, allowing you to recall messages, but only in RCS enabled chats.

Grab this Lenovo Legion gaming PC while it’s under $1,000

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 gaming PC with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 processor, AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM is a steal for under $1,000,