In recent years, Americans have received some checks sent their way. From stimulus checks to insurance company reimbursements to other direct government payments. Now, more checks are probably headed out to thousands of people and this time, the money is coming from Apple.
It’s all part of a deal the tech giant agreed to after they were sued for breaching their contract with users. The class-action lawsuit stems from the company’s iCloud storage. While they offer 5GB of free space, iPhone and iPad owners who need more have to pay at least $0.99 a month for a subscription. It turns out that the company could have stored that data on third-party servers, which would be a breach of the contract. Instead of fighting the charges in court, the company has decided to liquidate $14.8 million, though they deny any wrongdoing.
So what does that mean? Well, anyone who paid for an iCloud subscription between September 16, 2015, and January 31, 2016, is probably owed money from Apple. If you’re one of those people, you don’t even have to do anything to get paid – if you have a U.S. mailing address associated with your iCloud plan, the payment will automatically be directed to the Apple account attached to it. If you are no longer a member, you will receive a check. By accepting the settlement, you waive the right to sue Apple for this alleged breach, but you can always choose not to do so by May 23 if you prefer to try to take them to court.
Nothing is official yet – a final approval hearing takes place on August 4. As of now, there is no word on how much each person will receive or when the payments will come. You can learn more about the agreement at here https://www.storageclassactionsettlement.com/