Apple today reminded developers that they can submit a claim for the Small Developer Assistance Fund, a pool of money that Apple is providing to developers as part of a $100 million class-action lawsuit settlement over its App Store policies.
Apple has been accepting submissions since January, and is today reminding developers have until May 20 to make a claim through the Small Developer Assistance website, which has tools for estimating payments. Developers can claim between $250 and $30,000 based on their historic App Store participation.
Developers must meet the following criteria to be eligible to submit a claim to the website, as outlined by Apple.
- Was sold for a non-zero price;
- Was sold via Apple's iOS App Store between 2015 and 2021;
- Earned, together with any other iOS applications or in-app products (including subscriptions) sold through all of your associated developer accounts, proceeds equal to or less than $1,000,000.00 through the App Store U.S. storefront in every calendar year from 2015 to 2021 in which you had a developer account.
There are approximately 67,000 eligible developers. Developers who earned less than $100 will get the minimum payment of $250, while those who earned more than $1 million will be entitled to a higher-end payment. Minimum payments are subject to change based on the number of total claims.
The settlement comes from a 2019 lawsuit that saw a group of iOS developers accuse Apple of using its App Store monopoly to impose "profit-killing" commissions. The developers were unhappy with Apple's 30 percent cut of App Store sales, an issue that was largely addressed with the App Store Small Business Program that dropped the commission that small developers have to pay to 15 percent.
In addition to providing $100 million to developers, Apple agreed to allow developers to use communications like email to share information about payment methods available outside of the App Store, plus Apple expanded the number of price points available to developers for subscriptions.
Apple also agreed to maintain the App Store Small Business Program and App Store search, making no changes for at least three years, with the company also pledging to create an annual transparency report based on App Store data covering app rejections, apps removed from the App Store, search information, and more.
After the May 20 deadline for submissions passes, there will be a final approval hearing on June 7, 2022. The payout date will vary based on whether there are objections, how long it takes to resolve those objections, and whether the agreement receives final approval from the court.
