How to join the class action lawsuit / settlement against Apple and collect your $25

In February Apple finally agreed to a $500 million settlement to a class action lawsuit over what some dubbed "batterygate" - Apple's decision to throttle the performance of iPhones with degraded batteries. If you happened to own one of the affected models, you may be eligible to receive $25, a sum that could increase or decrease somewhat, depending on how many claimants there are.

A short explanation of the lawsuit: lithium-ion batteries degrade over time and at some point are unable to deliver the power required by the tasks at hand, causing iPhones to shutdown unexpectedly. Apple's solution was to throttle performance (via iOS) to avoid these situations. Whether or not this was a good idea is debatable - after it was exposed, Apple claimed that it was done in the interest of the consumer, that it would prolong the lifetime of devices with degraded batteries. Of course many believed that Apple engaged in "planned obsolescence," basically causing devices to underperform in order to coerce people into upgrading their devices. The problem is that Apple wasn't transparent about it from the beginning, hence the lawsuit and settlement.

In order to be eligible for the $25 portion of the settlement, you must be a U.S. resident and have owned an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus or iPhone SE running iOS 10.2.1 or later, or an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus running iOS 11.2 or later, with installation of said iOS versions happening before December 21, 2017.

At this point it is unclear how eligible recipients will receive their payouts. There is no "sign up" per se, but the settlement reads, "Apple will provide the Settlement Administrator with the email address of record on the Apple ID account of the members of the Settlement Class, as well as names, mailing addresses, and relevant iPhone serial numbers... Emails of the Summary Notice will be sent by the Settlement Administrator to those whose email addresses are valid; otherwise, the Settlement Administrator will mail a copy of the Summary Notice to that Settlement Class Member." There will also be information on a Settlement website that doesn't exist yet.

The settlement is still awaiting court approval at this time. Check back often for more information, as we will update as new information comes to light.