Apple’s $25M Settlement: Resolving Lawsuit Regarding Family Sharing

In a resolution to a class action lawsuit originating from 2019, Apple has consented to a $25 million settlement concerning its Family Sharing feature. This feature allows users to share purchased apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books with up to five family members. The lawsuit alleged that Apple misrepresented the functionality of its Family Sharing feature, particularly in its capability to share subscriptions to various applications.

The lawsuit says that Apple denies that it made any misleading misrepresentations and “denies all allegations of wrongdoing.” The settlement agreement notes that “Apple has concluded that continuing to defend this Action would be burdensome and expensive. Apple enters into this Agreement without in any way acknowledging any fault, liability, or wrongdoing of any kind.”

Court documents from the lawsuit allege that Apple advertised Family Sharing as an option on apps that did not support Family Sharing.

“The vast majority of subscription-based Apps, which is a growing percentage of Apple Apps, cannot be shared with designated family members,” the court document reads. “They are available only to the individual user who downloads the App and sets up a subscription. All or virtually all of these Apps, however, included the statement that they support Family Sharing on their landing pages through January 30, 2019.”

The lawsuit alleges that Apple was aware that the subscription-based apps did not support Family Sharing, but still placed an ad for Family Sharing on them. The court document goes on to note that “millions of consumers have downloaded subscription-based Apps believing that they are available for Family Sharing, only to learn after payment has been made that they are not so available.”

U.S. residents who were enrolled in a Family Sharing group with at least one other person between June 21, 2015 and January 30, 2019 and purchased a subscription to an app from the App Store during that time may be eligible for a payment. Eligible class members will be receiving an email this week.