Developers begin receiving final round of Small Developer Assistance Fund payments

In late 2022, initial payments for the Small Developer Assistance Fund started going out, with each eligible US developer receiving at least $1000 – up to 4x the projected minimum payout. A second round of payouts begun toward the end of 2023, and now the third and final round of payments started going out this week.

Previous payouts

As part of a settlement agreement, Apple established the Small Developer Assistance Fund in 2021. It offered payouts of $250 to $30,000 to any developer who had paid any commission to Apple between June 4, 2015 and April 26, 2021. The total settlement was over $100,000,000, benefiting over 99% of US app developers.

The payment tiers broke down as follows:

Under $100 in annual App Store proceeds: $250 minimum payout
$100-$1,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $500 minimum payout
$1,000-$5,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $1,000 minimum payout
$5,000-$10,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $1,500 minimum payout
$10,000-$50,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $2,000 minimum payout
$50,000-$100,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $3,500 minimum payout
$100,000-$250,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $5,000 minimum payout
$250,000-$500,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $10,000 minimum payout
$500,000-$1,000,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $20,000 minimum payout
Over $1,000,000 in annual App Store proceeds: $30,000 minimum payout

With the initial round of payouts in October 2022, since fewer people filed than anticipated – the payouts ended up being roughly 4x the minimum payout. That means for some developers, the settlement payout exceeded what they actually would’ve earned. For example, developers in the $100-1000 annual income tier received a settlement check exceeding $2000.

In late 2023, a second round of payouts went out, distributing any unclaimed funds from developers who were unable to provide a valid tax identification number. That payout was $17 for those who earned under $100, and $34 for those who earned under $1000. If you wish, you can do the math to figure out what that payout meant for each tier. The max payout here was around ~$2040.

Final payout

Starting this week, developers begun receiving checks, E-MasterCards, and PayPal payments for the third and final payout from the Small Developer Assistance Fund. It was in the amount of $20.19 for those who earned under $100, and $40.39 for those who earned under $1000. That means payouts presumably go as high as ~$2422 for those developers who earned over $1,000,000 a year.

So, if you’re an indie app developer who participated in this class action settlement – keep an eye on your mailbox! These checks will be void on April 21st, 2025.