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.

app store blue banner
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.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

iPhone Foldable Display Said to Feature iPad-Style 4:3 Aspect Ratio

Friday March 28, 2025 3:44 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming "iPhone Fold" will feature a foldable screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, according to a Chinese leaker who previously leaked the book-style device's display dimensions. The Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station claims that Apple will adopt a "roughly" 4:3 aspect ratio on the inner display in order to achieve consistency between the outer display, as well as to ensure parity...

Top Rated Comments

sw1tcher Avatar
44 months ago

Wow! This is huge!
Not really.

$100 million is only 0.174% of the $57.411 billion in net income Apple took in for fiscal year 2020 ;)
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
higgalls Avatar
44 months ago

Another case where Apple could've done the right thing and offer out the "fund" proactively as they have all the sales data. They know who should be getting it yet they wait for people to come forward in the hope they don't. They make them go through a process to put a barrier up. It's poor UX and it shows exactly how money grubbing they've become and the disdain they have for the developers on their ecosystem.
Actually, my guess is that this is probably a legal requirement, because in applying for the fund will probably mean that the developer gives up any legal right to launch their own legal case over apple to try and get a better deal for themselves. These sorts of legal funds happen all the time, and you need to explicitly opt-in. Now I am not a legal expert, so I could be wrong, but that's my guess why this is the case.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TracesOfArsenic Avatar
44 months ago
Another case where Apple could've done the right thing and offer out the "fund" proactively as they have all the sales data. They know who should be getting it yet they wait for people to come forward in the hope they don't. They make them go through a process to put a barrier up. It's poor UX and it shows exactly how money grubbing they've become and the disdain they have for the developers on their ecosystem.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
firewood Avatar
44 months ago

Apple does in-deed have a Monopoly !
Your opinion doesn't matter to anybody but you. Only the opinion of a trial judge or appeals court with jurisdiction actually might affect Apple, developers, or customers in any way. Latest U.S. court case ruled no monopoly. Under appeal, so you might be right. Or not.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wildkraut Avatar
44 months ago
Apple better start repatriating more money... this won't be the last payment they will have to do.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
44 months ago
Compared to the untold billions they’ve made off the App Store, 100 million is a rounding error.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)