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.

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.