MacBook Owners With Faulty Butterfly Keyboards to Get Payouts Soon

Two years after Apple paid $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over faulty MacBook butterfly keyboards, funds from the settlement will be going out to affected customers.

macbook pro butterfly keyboard
An update on the MacBook Keyboard Litigation Settlement website says that the court issued a payment order on June 27, 2024, with payments set to be issued for approved claims by August 2024.

Emails about the lawsuit were sent out in December 2022 to MacBook owners eligible for a payment. MacBook owners who had at least two topcase replacements from Apple within four years of purchase are set to receive a maximum of $395, while customers who had one topcase repair will receive up to $125. Those who had keycap replacements are eligible for up to $50.

Claims were accepted through March 6, 2023, and the settlement was ultimately approved on May 25, 2023. There is no word on why there has been more than a year's delay getting payments sent out to customers.

Apple used butterfly keyboards in Macs between 2015 and 2019, and while the design was updated several times during that four-year period, the butterfly mechanism was prone to failure. Thousands of customers had issues with repeating keys, sticking keys, and keyboard failures due to crumbs, dust, and other issues.

Apple launched a repair program in June 2018 covering the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models manufactured from 2015 on, but it only covered machines for four years after purchase and because butterfly keyboards were replaced with another butterfly keyboard, no permanent fix was available.

Due to the major failure of the butterfly keyboard, Apple swapped back to a scissor switch mechanism. Macs manufactured since late 2019 have had the much more reliable scissor switch keyboard that is able to stand up to wear and tear.

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Top Rated Comments

Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
9 months ago
grt newws stll gott minee
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
9 months ago
God I hated this thing with the heat of a thousand suns. Even when it wasn't breaking, it sucked absolute *** to type on.

I ended up using an 11" MacBook Air for several years waiting for them to stop making these things.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
9 months ago
Glad I missed this entire train.

Went from a 2012 Pro to a M1 Air.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
project_2501 Avatar
9 months ago

That whole generation of Apple laptops was a complete dumpster fire. Thermally throttled almost instantly, bad battery life, ran hot, keyboards were junk, touch bar was a stupid gimmick, webcam that looked like a 2002 dialup video chat, abandoning ports that people loved and needed.

The fact that Apple did not immediately reverse course spoke volumes.
Is this why they finally fired Jony Ive?

That era spawned some great satire...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0423MAC Avatar
9 months ago
I have 20 polishing cloths in my cart ready to buy with this windfall!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stella Avatar
9 months ago
Butterfly was form over function. Thin design over practical use.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)