Apple to pay nearly $15M in iCloud refunds – See if you’re eligible

March 28, 2022

By Kim Komando

Mobile phones have excellent features these days, but more significant storage requirements come with technology upgrades. If you only have 64GB of internal storage, it will fill to the brim with photos and videos in no time. Tap or click here for what to do if your iCloud or Google storage is full.

Thankfully, some solutions don’t involve upgrading your mobile phone. For example, Apple’s iCloud gives every iPhone, iPad, or Mac user 5GB of free cloud storage. Of course, if you need more than that, you can buy a storage upgrade.

Most people assume that iCloud data is stored on Apple’s servers. But read on to find out why that hasn’t always been the case and see if you’re eligible for part of this class-action lawsuit settlement.

Here’s the backstory

Like many others, you might click on the option to back up your data to iCloud without going through the Terms and Conditions. While there isn’t anything nefarious in them, it states that any stored data will be on Apple’s servers.

But a complaint filed in a California District Court alleged that Apple hasn’t kept its word. Particularly between Sept. 16, 2015, and Jan. 31, 2016. The lawsuit claims during that time, Apple stored iCloud data on servers belonging to Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Apple denied the allegations but agreed to pay out $14.8 million to U.S. residents to settle the class-action lawsuit. Do you qualify to receive a refund?

What you can do about it

You could be entitled to a settlement refund if you paid for your iCloud storage during the specified time. However, the settlement doesn’t apply to anyone who used the free storage option. Luckily, you don’t need to do anything.

The only condition to receive the refund is that the email address used to purchase the iCloud upgrade is still active. So, keep an eye on your inbox, as a refund email should arrive any day now. It contains a few essential details.

Most notably, active iCloud subscription users with a U.S. mailing address who are eligible will automatically get the payout into the account used for the purchase.

You should also watch for phishing emails. Scammers will piggyback on news like a settlement from a Big Tech company and send spoofed emails looking to steal your money and account credentials. Tap or click here for an example of a spoofed PayPal phishing scheme.

If you don’t have an active iCloud subscription, you can expect a check in the mail if you are eligible for a refund. How much you can get is undetermined, but don’t get your hopes up.

The payout is dependent on the storage tier and service 850 million users had in 2018. It is unclear how many were paid subscribers, but the more paid subscribers, the lower the refund.

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