Google agrees $135M Android settlement

Google just agreed to pay $135 million over a claim that Android phones were quietly sending data back to Google even when people weren’t using them, and the people covered are mostly Android users in the United States outside California who used cellular data after November 12, 2017. (federalcellularclassaction.com) The lawsuit says the problem was not just privacy in the abstract but paid phone data in the real world: your carrier charged you for cellular bandwidth, and the complaint says Google used some of that bandwidth for its own background transfers. (cnet.com) This case is called Taylor v. Google LLC, and it was filed in federal court in Northern California on November 12, 2020 after users alleged Android devices were making these transfers while phones were idle, stationary, and untouched. (courtlistener.com, courthousenews.com) Google did not admit wrongdoing, but in January 2026 it agreed to a preliminary settlement for about 100 million United States Android users, with a final approval hearing scheduled for June 23, 2026. (cnet.com, pacermonitor.com) The payout is not a flat $135 million divided cleanly by 100 million people, because the fund still has to cover legal fees, administration costs, and service awards, and the per-person payment is expected to vary with participation. (openclassactions.com, classaction.org) The official settlement site says you do not need to file a traditional claim form if you are in the class, but you do need to pick a payment method if you want the money sent by options like PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, bank transfer, or virtual prepaid card. (federalcellularclassaction.com, cnet.com) The deadline to exclude yourself or object is May 29, 2026, and people who do nothing are still supposed to remain in the settlement class, though the practical risk is that payment may be harder to deliver if no payment method is selected. (cnet.com, federalcellularclassaction.com) California is carved out because a separate case called Csupo v. Google LLC already produced its own California-only settlement over similar Android cellular data claims. (openclassactions.com, federalcellularclassaction.com) Google also agreed to change some of the wording and controls around Android background transfers, including clearer Google Play terms about passive transfers and a commitment that the “allow background data usage” setting will fully stop collection when switched off. (cnet.com) That promise lands after years of legal pressure on Google over consent screens and hidden tracking paths, including Arizona’s separate $85 million settlement in October 2022 over allegations that Google kept collecting location data even after users turned off “Location History.” (azag.gov) Put simply, this case says an Android phone was not just a phone in your pocket but also a meter running in the background, and the settlement is Google paying to end the fight before a final court ruling on whether those silent transfers crossed the line. (courthousenews.com, pacermonitor.com)