Published Sep 22, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
Apple agreed in May to pay $250 million to settle a class action over the personalized Siri features it previewed in 2024 and then put off. The claim window opened today, September 21, and it stays open through December 21, 2026. If you bought an iPhone 15 Pro or a 16-series iPhone in the United States during a nine-month stretch of 2024 and 2025, you are probably in the class. Here is what the money is, who qualifies, and the one line on the claim form worth reading twice before you sign it.
What Apple Actually Agreed To
The case is Landsheft v. Apple, consolidated in the Northern District of California before Judge Noël Wise. The plaintiffs argued that Apple sold these phones on a promise. In June 2024 it showed a Siri that understood your personal context, saw what was on your screen, and reached into individual apps. Apple put those features in product presentations, on its own website, and in a TV commercial starring Bella Ramsey. In March 2025 it told customers the personalized version would arrive later. The lawsuit called that false advertising. The plaintiffs also pointed to the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, which found that Apple’s “available now” language conveyed the updated Siri was ready at launch when it was not.
Apple denies all of it. The deal is not an admission of liability, and Apple has said it settled to avoid the cost and risk of a trial. One detail matters more than the rest: the fund is non-reversionary, which means money that nobody claims does not flow back to Apple.
And the features did land, eventually. Apple announced Siri AI at WWDC in June and shipped it with iOS 27 on September 14. If you have not installed the update yet, our iOS 27 update guide walks through it.
Who Qualifies for a Payment
Three conditions, all required. You must live in the United States. You must have bought the phone in the United States. And you must have bought it for something other than resale, between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025.
Seven models count:
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
The window is not arbitrary. June 10, 2024 is the week Apple announced the first Apple Intelligence features at WWDC. March 29, 2025 is when Apple pushed the personalized Siri to a later date. The class covers the gap between the pitch and the retreat.
Apple’s own directors, officers and employees are excluded, and so are the judge and her staff. Everyone else who fits the three conditions is a class member whether or not they ever filed anything.
How Much You Could Get
Roughly $25 per eligible iPhone, with a ceiling of $95. Both numbers are estimates, and here is why. Apple pays $250 million into the fund. Administration costs come out first, capped at $5,444,056, then attorneys’ fees and any class representative awards. What remains gets divided by the number of valid claims.
If far more people file than the parties expect, each payment drops below $25. If fewer file, each payment climbs, up to that $95 cap. Payment is per device, not per person, so two qualifying iPhones in one household can mean two separate claims.
How to File a Claim
The court appointed Verita Global as settlement administrator, and it runs the claim site at smartphoneaisettlement.com. You will be asked for your contact information and the serial number of the qualifying iPhone, which lives in Settings, then General, then About. You also pick how you want the money: check, PayPal, Venmo, or ACH. The claim site sits behind a bot-protection wall, so the field list above comes from the reporting linked at the bottom rather than from the form itself; the form is the final word on what it asks for.
MacRumors reports that eligible buyers will be emailed a claim ID and a PIN code over the coming days. MacObserver notes the start date was moved by Judge Wise in an August 28 order and no public court record published the new one, so the notice arrives by email rather than on a schedule you can look up. A spam-folder sweep costs thirty seconds.
The deadline is December 21, 2026, and it is not soft. The settlement papers state that a claim which is incomplete, contains false information, or arrives late is rejected, and that filing one waives your right to any payment.
What You Have to Sign
This is the part that turns a news story into a decision. The form asks you to certify that when you bought the phone you “expected to receive a Siri Apple Intelligence feature and did not receive it,” and to sign that your answers are true.
Owning one of the seven models is not automatically enough. If you bought an iPhone 16 Pro for the camera and never gave the new Siri a thought, that certification is a stretch, and a false statement on a sworn claim form is a bad trade for $25. The better question is not whether you owned the phone. It is whether you expected the feature and did not get it.
When the Money Shows Up
Not soon. The final approval hearing is set for September 29, 2027, and payments begin at least 60 days after that. Late 2027 is the realistic floor. Filing takes ten minutes. Waiting takes a year.
That timeline is also why the December deadline is easy to ignore and worth a calendar entry today. Nothing about the payout feels urgent, which is exactly how a ninety-day claim window closes on people who meant to get to it.
Where Siri AI Stands Now
The feature at the center of the lawsuit shipped with iOS 27 on September 14. Siri AI runs on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, which is the same hardware the settlement covers, and Apple still labels it beta even though iOS 27 itself is not. Apple also gates it behind a manual waitlist in Settings, so installing the update does not hand you instant access.
We covered the app itself in Apple’s Siri App: What It Does & Which iPhones, and the developer side in Siri AI on iPhone: Which Third-Party Apps Actually Work. For the wider release, see iOS 27 & WWDC 2026: Every New Feature Coming to Your iPhone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need to own the iPhone to claim?
The class is defined by the purchase, not by current ownership, so a phone you have since sold or traded in does not disqualify you on its face. Keep the serial number handy before you start the form, since that is the part people lose access to after a trade-in.
I bought the phone used. Can I claim?
Read the form carefully rather than assuming. The class covers purchases made for a purpose other than resale, and the certification asks what you expected at the moment you bought it. If a second-hand purchase came without the original promise attached, that sentence is hard to sign honestly.
How do I find the serial number?
Settings, then General, then About. If the phone is gone, the serial number was also printed on the original box and on the receipt from the retailer.
What if the claim email never arrives?
Check spam first, then give it a few days, because the administrator sends notices in waves rather than all at once. The window runs to December 21, 2026, so there is room to pursue it before the deadline rather than after.
Is this the same thing as the Siri AI waitlist?
No, and the two get confused constantly. The waitlist is Apple’s staged rollout of Siri AI inside Settings. The settlement is a cash payment for people who bought a phone expecting a feature that did not arrive on time. One is a feature gate, the other is money.
Sources
- MacRumors: Siri AI Settlement Website Now Live (September 20, 2026)
- 9to5Mac: You can now claim your payout from Apple’s $250 million Siri settlement (September 21, 2026)
- MacObserver: who qualifies and how claims will work
- Official settlement claim site (Verita Global)
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