11 Investigates looks at the iPhone battery slowdown settlement

PITTSBURGH — If you have an iPhone you could be eligible for a little money from Apple.

The company has agreed to pay $25 dollars per qualifying phone as part of a class-action settlement over battery slowdown.

11 Investigates’ Angie Moreschi talked to local iPhone users who experienced the slowdowns.

“When I had my iPhone 6 and it became slower, I bought a new iPhone 8," said Thomas Sames. “The phone got slower and the battery lost the power much faster than before.”

If you’ve got a consumer issue that you’d like Angie to investigate, contact her at amoreschi@wpxi.com.

“It was just annoying because anything you tried to do on it, the phone would slow down. Everything would be full,” said Jennifer Hayes.

In 2017, Apple admitted it deliberately used software updates to slow down older iPhones. The company said it was to preserve battery life, but according to the lawsuit, Apple is accused of slowing down phones to force customers to buy newer models.

If you have an iPhone and are opted-in to our WPXI News app alerts, you would have received a breaking news alert last night when the tentative settlement was initially announced. CLICK HERE for more information on how you can opt-in to alerts.

Apple denies any wrongdoing but has agreed to pay a maximum of up to $500 million, giving $25 to customers for each qualifying device. That number could go up or down depending on how many people apply.

Here are the qualifying models:

• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus

If you’d like to take a look at the tentative settlement agreement, here it is:

The settlement still has to be approved by a judge at a hearing that’s scheduled for April 3.

Once it’s approved and if you’re a part of the settlement class, you’ll get an email notification or postcard notification in the email that gives you instructions to go to a specific website to fill out a claim.

Who’s Part of the Settlement Class?

You may be wondering how Apple knows whether you’re part of the settlement class.

The company keeps information on which devices you bought and whether you performed certain updates so they will send your information to a settlement administrator who will contact you with the information you need to apply.

Here’s a look at the instructions for people who want to be included in the settlement.

iPhone battery slowdown lawsuit, Apple agrees to pay up to $500M iPhone battery slowdown lawsuit, Apple agrees to pay up to $500M

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