Apple has begun making payments to those who have had to spend money to fix their malfunctioning MacBook butterfly keyboards.

The checks are the result of Apple’s $50 million (A$76.86 million) settlement of a class action lawsuit over the keyboards in 2022.

People who filed during the claims window which began late last year are eligible for payments. More than 86,000 claims for class member payments were reported to have been made before the application deadline.

The settlements only apply to affected laptops in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington.

Those who got two or more topcase replacements within four years of purchasing one of the affected MacBooks are expected to get between $300-$395 (A$461.15-A$607.18), while MacBook owners who got just one topcase replacement could get up to $125 (A$192.15).

Those who only needed keycap replacements will get a maximum of $50 (A$76.86).

A settlement website now states that payments for approved claims will go out in August and several of those who had filed claims have now revealed that they have begun receiving payments from Apple.

Apple debuted the butterfly keyboard in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook. At the time, Apple’s former design head Jony Ive said that the mechanism allowed the company to build slimmer laptops without compromising on typing feel or stability.

However, starting with the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, the company started doing away with the butterfly switch keyboards, which had low key travel but seemed to be unreliable and prone to failure. It finally released a 13-inch MacBook Pro without butterfly switches in 2020.

Last year, US district court Judge Edward Davila called the settlement “fair, adequate and reasonable.”