Apple has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of parents over in-app purchases made by children without their parents’ knowledge or permission.
As per the proposed settlement, Apple agreed to pay $100m and provide a $5 iTunes store credit to around 23 million affected customers.
Under the settlement, users who spent over $30 on in-app purchases should file for a full refund in order to get the $5 payment in cash.
The settlement requires approval by a district court in San Jose, California, US, which is scheduled to hear the case on 1 March.
The lawsuit was filed in 2011 by five parents claiming that they have paid for Game Currency in game apps inadvertently downloaded from the App Store by children.
Apple revised its in-app purchasing policy in 2011, which required users to enter their account password before purchasing or downloading an app or buying game currency.
The lawsuit claimed that if the user, enters the password for first time, the game currency would be purchased for the next 15 minutes without entering the password for the second time.
Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) demanded that companies developing mobile applications, beef up their privacy policies to ensure that parents have information on what data is collected by their children using mobile devices as well as how it is used and shared.
