UK tribunal clears £3 billion iCloud lawsuit against Apple

Britain’s competition tribunal has cleared the way for a £3 billion collective action against Apple, turning a dispute over iCloud into a wider test of how far a company can use control of its own ecosystem to keep users inside it. The case now moves toward a trial that is not expected until 2028, with the tribunal saying the claims can proceed on behalf of millions of UK iCloud users.

Which? brought the action under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as an opt-out collective claim, meaning eligible users are included unless they choose to opt out. The claim covers people who used iCloud between 8 November 2018 and 8 June 2026 and were living in the UK on 8 June 2026. Which? says that includes both paying and non-paying users after a later judgment rejected Apple’s bid to exclude non-paying customers.

At the heart of the case is an allegation that Apple abused its dominant position in iOS by favouring iCloud over rival cloud storage services. Which? argues that Apple’s design choices, prompts and technical restrictions made switching harder than it should have been, effectively tying iCloud to Apple devices and steering users toward Apple’s own storage product. The consumer group says rival providers could have offered equivalent or even better services if they had been treated on equal terms.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal registered the claim on 11 November 2024 and held hearings on 19-20 November 2025, 6 March 2026, 2 April 2026, 6 May 2026 and 3 June 2026 before making a Collective Proceedings Order on 17 June 2026. The tribunal’s case page says the trial will take place on the first available date in October 2028 and is currently estimated to last nine weeks.

If the claim succeeds, individual users could receive payouts of up to £77 each, though the case is about more than compensation. For ordinary consumers, the dispute goes to the cost and inconvenience of leaving a tightly integrated service when photos, backups, messages and device settings are built around one company’s cloud platform. That is why the case is being watched as a possible national precedent for how the UK regulates platform ecosystems and digital lock-in.

Apple has said the claims are unfounded, that no customer is required to use iCloud and that UK customers have plenty of alternatives. Reuters reported that Apple also planned to appeal. The case lands as regulators across Europe intensify scrutiny of cloud interoperability, including an Italian antitrust probe opened on 16 June 2026 under the Digital Markets Act, underlining how far the iCloud fight reaches beyond one company’s billing model.