failed to warn victims
The Met Commissioner accepted that the failure to warn victims was unlawful.
Ex-Deputy PM Lord Prescott, Labour MP Chris Bryant, ex-Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick and two others had pushed for a review.
The men, some of whom received payouts from the newspaper's owner, argued their human rights had been breached.
Outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Lord Prescott said he would not be seeking damages from the police.
He was among dozens of people who received settlements from News International in compensation for hacking.
He received £40,000, and Mr Bryant was awarded £30,000.
Finally apologised'
The long-running case concerned the lawfulness of the original 2006 police investigation into phone hacking, and the failure to notify victims.
Lord Prescott said: "It's taken me 19 months to finally get justice. Time and again I was told by the Metropolitan Police that I had not been targeted by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. But I refused to accept this was the case.
"Thanks to this judicial review, the Metropolitan Police has finally apologised for its failure to properly investigate, and inform victims, of the criminal acts of phone hacking committed by the News of the World."
The other two applicants in the case were Ben Jackson, the former assistant to the actor Jude Law, and an applicant known only as HJK.
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said Tuesday's order represents a defeat for the Metropolitan police, and an admission that there were flaws in the initial 2006 investigation in failing to notify potential victims of phone hacking.
Victims identified
The Met Police are re-examining the entire case dating back to 2006, when the News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into the mobile phone voicemails of royal aides.
Since then, a series of inquiries and legal cases have been exploring just how widespread the practice was, and the newspaper was shut by its owner News International.
Operation Weeting is looking at allegations of hacking by News of the World into private voicemails.
The ruling comes a day after police confirmed that they believed 829 people were "likely" victims of phone-hacking by newspapers.
Appearing at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said 581 of those people had been contacted.
However, 231 could not be identified, and 17 had not been told due to "operational reasons".
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