Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Apple’s alleged iCloud subscription deception. The plaintiffs had accused Apple of deceiving users by claiming that they can maintain free 5GB storage space, for not making it clear how much monthly subscription fee consumers will be charged for additional iCloud storage, and for hiding the cancellation procedure.
Users mostly save a lot of data on their devices which can quickly exceed the free storage space on the devices. Apple allows users to purchase additional storage space by subscribing to an offer iCloud storage plan starting with $0.99 per month.
iCloud is built into every Apple device. That means all your stuff — photos, files, notes, and more — is safe, up to date, and available wherever you are. Everyone gets 5GB of free iCloud storage to start. And you can upgrade to iCloud+ anytime for powerful new features and more storage.
Plaintiffs failed to provide evidence against Apple’s alleged deception about the iCloud subscription
Bloomberg reports that William Rutter and other plaintiffs failed to support their claims under California’s auto-renewal law that mandates disclosure and customer consent to activate a subscription renewal plan.
Judge Gilliam Jr. ruled that every consumer agrees to iCloud Terms and Conditions before subscribing to the iCloud service which clearly states that Apple will charge a monthly fee from consumers through their payment method linked to their Apple ID. Therefore, the case was dismissed with the right to refile. The report states:
- The customers failed to adequately explain how the company’s recurring charge notification was deficient or how they were fooled.
- Claims that Apple didn’t obtain consent fail because there was no plausible explanation for how iCloud users who pay for storage didn’t agree to do so.
- Rutter and the others also failed to support claims that Apple didn’t properly disclose its iCloud cancellation policy.
- Contract-based claims fail because the consumers didn’t identify a provision in the iCloud Terms and Conditions that promises users any form of data storage advice.
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