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Apple Reminds Developers to Submit Claims for $250 to $30K Payments From Apple Lawsuit Settlement

Apple on Monday reminded developers to submit a claim for the Small Developer Assistance Fund, a pool of money that Apple is paying out to developers as part of its settlement of a $100 million class-action lawsuit over its App Store policies.

Apple has been accepting submissions since January and developers have until May 20 to make a claim through the Small Developer Assistance website, which has tools for estimating payments. Developers could be eligible to claim between $250 and $30,000 based on their historic ‌App Store‌ participation.

In 2019, a group of iOS developers accused Apple of using its ‌App Store‌ monopoly to impose “profit-killing” commissions. The developers were upset with Apple’s 30% cut of the action. Apple later introduced the App Store Small Business Program, cutting commissions to 15% for developers making under $1 million in a calendar year.

The fund is open to all developers based in the United States who:

  • Sold the app(s) for a non-zero price.
  • Sold the app via Apple’s iOS ‌‌App Store‌‌ between 2015 and 2021.
  • Earned proceeds equal to or less than $1 million through the US storefront in each calendar year in which they had a developer account between 2015 to 2021.

Approximately 67,000 developers are said to be eligible for the payouts. 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 payment amounts can change, based on the number of total claims.

Apple also agreed to maintain the ‌App Store‌ Small Business Program in its current structure for the next three years. The Cupertino company will allow developers to use communication methods like email to share information about payment methods available outside of their iOS apps.

There will also be additional ‌App Store‌ pricing options, the publication of an annual transparency report based on ‌App Store‌ data, and tools that allow developers to appeal the rejection of an app.

Learn more at https://smallappdeveloperassistance.com/

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.