Android app payback

You might be owed a little money if you bought something in a smartphone app powered by Google’s Android software during the past seven years or so.

More than $500 million is expected to be distributed to tens of millions of Android users across the U.S. as part of an antitrust settlement between Google and state attorneys general to resolve a lawsuit alleging the company built anticompetitive barriers that drove up prices for digital transactions on apps downloaded from Android’s Play.

Google is paying a total of $700 million as part of that deal, but a significant chunk will be sliced off to cover lawyer fees, legal penalties and other costs associated with the two-year-old case. After covering that overhead, there will still be enough money to pay at least $2 to each of the estimated 102 million consumers eligible to receive part of the settlement. Some consumers will receive more money, depending on their volume of in-app purchases made from August 16, 2016, through September 30, 2023.

Eligible consumers are supposed to be automatically notified through email shortly after the settlement wins expected court approval early this year.