£70 each, 40 million people: what the Which? £3bn iCloud claim means for you
Which? has filed a £3bn collective action against Apple at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, alleging Apple steered iPhone users towards iCloud and made it harder to use rivals. About 40 million UK customers could each be in line for around £70 if it succeeds. Here is what the claim is, what you need
On 6 May 2026, Which? filed a £3bn legal claim against Apple at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The argument is short and easy to follow. Apple, Which? says, breached UK competition law by pushing iPhone and iPad customers towards iCloud and not making it clear they could use a different cloud-storage provider. About 40 million UK consumers who used iCloud at any point since 1 October 2015 could be in scope. If Which? wins, the average payout is estimated at around £70.
This is not the first big consumer competition case in the UK and it will not be the last. But it is the clearest sign yet that collective action, the consumer answer to companies that act against consumers in the same way at scale, is moving from a niche legal idea to a normal feature of the consumer-rights landscape.
Here is what the claim is, what happens next, and what you actually need to do.
What the claim says
The argument has two parts:
- Steering: Apple set up iOS so that iCloud was the obvious place to back up your photos, contacts, messages and device. Other cloud-storage services exist, but on iPhone and iPad they did not get equal billing.
- Switching friction: even if you knew there were alternatives, using them properly on an iOS device was harder than it should have been. Some Apple data, the claim alleges, can only be backed up to iCloud.
Add those together over a decade, Which? argues, and Apple charged UK consumers more for iCloud than it would have done in a market with proper competition.
What "collective action" actually means
A collective action at the Competition Appeal Tribunal lets one organisation bring a claim on behalf of a whole class of consumers, instead of every consumer having to file their own case.
There are two flavours:
- Opt-out, you are in by default unless you actively opt out. Most UK collective actions to date have been opt-out for UK-resident consumers.
- Opt-in, you have to actively join.
Which? has filed at the Tribunal and the certification hearing is scheduled for 30 June 2026. That is the hearing where the Tribunal decides whether the claim can proceed as a collective action and on what basis.
Until certification happens, you do not need to do anything. Which? has not asked consumers to register with them yet because it cannot, until the Tribunal certifies the case, there is technically nothing to register for.
Two reasons not to "do nothing" entirely
Even though there is no formal sign-up step, two things are worth doing now:
- Keep your evidence. If you have used iCloud since 1 October 2015, paid storage tier or free, keep your Apple ID emails, billing receipts and any account records. If the claim is certified opt-out, this will not matter for joining the class. If it ends up opt-in or hybrid, or if a sub-class is split out, you may need to prove your iCloud history.
- Watch the certification hearing. 30 June 2026 is the date that will decide whether this becomes a real action you can be part of, or stalls. We will update this article when the Tribunal rules.
How this sits alongside the other consumer fights this week
This is one of three big consumer stories landing in the same 24 hours:
- Mastercard, Visa and PayPal: the FCA opened a Competition Act 1998 investigation on 6 May 2026 into anti-competitive conduct linked to PayPal's digital wallet. PayPal shares fell almost 8% on the day.
- Claims management market review: the FCA and the Solicitors Regulation Authority announced a joint review of how UK claims management companies operate, covering price caps, marketing, financial incentives, and how they handle motor finance and housing disrepair claims.
- Which? Apple iCloud: the £3bn collective action covered above.
Each one is a slightly different kind of consumer fight. The FCA probes are regulator-led, the FCA decides whether competition law has been broken and, if so, what to do about it. The Which? case is consumer-led. Which? is the proposed class representative, the Tribunal decides whether competition law has been broken, and individual consumers receive compensation if it succeeds.
The pattern across all three: where one company (or one industry) treats millions of customers the same way, collective action is increasingly how that gets fought, because individual disputes are too small for any one person to take on alone.
What we are doing about it
EvenStance has a case groups feature that does for ordinary disputes what Which?'s claim does for iCloud, joins similar cases against the same company so the evidence and the negotiating position both get stronger.
We will be tracking the iCloud claim as it moves through the Tribunal. If you have an iCloud account and want a reminder when the certification hearing happens, you can register a free case and we will keep you updated alongside any of your own active disputes.
Bottom line
You do not need to do anything yet. Keep your records. Watch the 30 June 2026 certification hearing. If it is certified as opt-out, you will likely be in by default. If it succeeds at trial, the average payout is estimated at around £70.
It is not life-changing money on its own. But £70 × 40 million customers is. And the bigger story, that consumer-led collective action is now how this kind of fight actually happens, matters more than any individual payout.
Sources: Which?, Competition Appeal Tribunal filing 6 May 2026.
