A class action lawsuit brought against Apple for its iCloud pricing in the UK back in November 2024 could result in affected users being paid as much as $95, but the members of the class action shouldn’t start spending that windfall quite yet.
The lawsuit was brought against Apple by UK consumer group Which? The group claims Apple locks “millions of consumers into its iCloud service at rip-off prices.”
While the ruling to allow the case to move forward was handed down in May 2026, the case is not expected to be heard until October 2028. That means it may be later 2028 or sometime in 2029 before any funds might be paid out.
It’s not much of a surprise that Apple didn’t agree with the case being allowed to move forward, as an Apple spokesperson told AppleInsider that the lawsuit is unwarranted.
“We work hard to make iCloud a great experience,” said the spokesperson, “but no customer is required to use it and customers in the UK have plenty of alternatives to choose from.”
As for the details behind the Which? class action lawsuit, Which? claims that Apple is locking in users into its iCloud services at “rip-off prices.” It claims that Apple should only be charging $11 for the iCloud storage tier that Apple charges $12 for, claiming UK users lost $1 per month for the duration of the complaint period: November 8, 2018, to June 8, 2026.
Approximately 40 million UK users either pay for iCloud storage or use the free version, and are automatically included in the suit, although they may opt out of the suit by October 8, 2026, via cloudclaim.co.uk
A free tier of iCloud allows Apple device users to store up to 5GB of data, which can include photos, video, message, notes, and other data. However, users soon learn that photos and videos eat up large amounts of storage, and often pay for access to larger amounts of cloud storage. Those extra tiers of storage range from and additional 99p to £54.99. Which! claims customers likely did not consider the need for paid storage upgrades when they first began using iCloud.
Apple is sure to claim that there are alternative cloud storage solutions available. However, those services do not offer the same features or integration into Apple’s ecosystem that’s offered by iCloud. Users also cannot backup and store as much of their device data with a third-party cloud provider, due to how Apple restricts certain types of data from being stored anywhere but on their cloud servers.