Apple settles $18 million lawsuit over iOS 6 sabotaging FaceTime

Apple will pay $18 million in a class-action lawsuit over the sabotage of FaceTime in iOS 6. Participants in the case will be paid about $3 per iOS device, according to the lawyers.

The amount has been set in a settlement between Apple and the prosecutors, Apple Insider writes. This ends a class-action lawsuit that was filed in 2017. In the case, iPhone 4 owners accused Apple of removing FaceTime support from iOS 6 in order to force users to upgrade to iOS 7. According to users, their phones with that version did not work as well.

Apple has been challenging the case for the past three years, but a settlement was reached with the plaintiffs in January. This is evident from court documents released this week. Apple will pay $18 million under the settlement. Part of that amount will be paid out to the people who have joined the class-action case. According to lawyers, they will receive about three dollars per iOS device, but that amount can rise if not all participants claim the money.

According to prosecutors, Apple wanted to save money by canceling an agreement with Akamai. Reference is made to emails used in an earlier case about Apple’s infringement of VirnetX’s patents. Introduced in 2010, FaceTime initially worked over both p2p and Akamai relay servers. Due to the patent violation, Apple had to stop using the p2p technology, so all traffic went through Akamai. As a result, the costs for Apple rose enormously.

In iOS 7, Apple renewed its FaceTime app with its own p2p technology. As a result, the contract with Akamai could be terminated. As of April 2014, this caused issues with FaceTime on iOS 6.