SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge axed a majority of Apple users’ claims that Apple collected private user data taken from the company’s app lineup, but allowed several claims based on an analytics sharing setting on their phones to live on.
In their November 2022 class action, the plaintiffs hone in on two settings found on every iPhone, iPad and Apple mobile device: “Share Analytics” and “Allow Apps to Request to Track.”
They argue that by disabling both these settings, Apple promised that users could disable the sharing of their data altogether — a trait that attracts many consumers specifically to Apple products.
They accused Apple of misleading them, since Apple continues to collect and save their personal data and link to their iCloud even when toggled off through apps like the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books and Stocks.
While U.S. District Judge Edward Davila dismissed most of the claims — citing consent obtained through Apple’s required software license agreement — some of the plaintiffs’ contract claims survive on the grounds that a reasonable consumer could believe that once they turned off the “Share Analytics” setting on their phone, Apple would stop collecting their data.
“It is plausible that a reasonable consumer would (1) believe that disabling the “Share [Device] Analytics” setting meant Apple would not collect the data at issue, and (2) rely on the “Share [Device] Analytics” setting,” Davila wrote in his 39-page decision issued Thursday.
The seven surviving counts — including the contract claim, along with several consumer fraud claims — only revolve around the “Share Analytics” setting.
However, claims based on “Allow Apps to Request to Track,” which Davila determined did not necessarily withdraw their consent for tracking, are dismissed. The judge agreed with Apple’s argument that those collection practices fall well within their privacy policy.
Among other arguments, Apple contends that because users are told multiple times how Apple uses their data, they argued that the plaintiffs could not establish there was an “unexpected recording” of their data.
“Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged they withdrew consent by turning off the ‘Allow Apps to Request to Track’ setting because that setting unambiguously applies only to tracking of activity across Apps or websites which app developers ‘don’t own,’ Davila wrote. “Thus, any misrepresentation claims based on that setting fail because plaintiffs only allege improper collection of their data on Apple’s Apps.”
Davila also dismissed invasion of privacy claims against Apple, saying the plaintiffs didn’t have any reasonable expectations of privacy based on their consent agreements.
Among other dismissals of various fraud claims based on consumer protection laws in New York, New Jersey and Illinois, Davila also dismissed a claim that Apple violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act, calling the plaintiffs’ definition of some data being shared as “communication” — like the device’s screen resolution, keyboard language, or how the user was connected to the internet — akin to “shoehorning.” He went on to say that such a definition “strain[ed] credulity.”
The ruling comes more than six months after the parties argued on the motion to dismiss in March.
Davila allowed plaintiffs 30 days to refile with an amended complaint for the dismissed claims.
Attorneys for either party did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Apple is no stranger to lawsuits. Over the last decade, the Silicon Valley tech giant has repeatedly battled claims that it violated consumers’ privacy rights by letting third-party applications collect and profit from users’ personal information on Apple devices without their knowledge.