However, there are users who had not understood or had not known the existence of Wi-Fi Assist, and the supposedly advantegeous feature had made them incur more cellular data changes than they had anticipated.
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Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit over the Wi-Fi Assist feature introduced in its ninth major release of the iOS mobile operating system.
The report further notes that “The complaint asserts that Apple did not properly explain Wi-Fi Assist on its website until only after a “flood of articles” were written about unintended cellular data use”.
The lawsuit has been filed by the Californian couple in a district court in San Jose, on behalf of iPhone and iPad users affected by the iOS 9 “Wi-Fi Assist” issue.
Wi-Fi Assist was added in iOS 9 to ensure that there is quality Internet connection at all times. They accuse Apple of violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, the state’s False Advertising Law, and negligent misrepresentation, charging that they and the class were mislead about cellular data usage.
A California couple is suing Apple for $US5 million in damages relating to Wi-Fi Assist.
The couple claims that Apple hasn’t done enough to warn users that the feature does consume a lot of cellular data and more over it is being accused of downplaying the data overheads a consumer may incur.
“Reasonable and average consumers use their iPhones for streaming of music, videos, and running various applications – all of which can use significant data”, reads the suit.
Defendant failed to disclose to consumers that this automatic switch to cellular data caused by an activated Wi-Fi Assist (the default setting) may result in exceeding the data capacity allowed under their phone plans.
Not happy that iOS 9’s WiFi Assist feature is quietly gobbling your iPhone’s cellular data for the sake of boosting your WiFi performance?
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To find out if this feature is enabled on your phone, or to shut down the feature, go to Settings Cellular and then scroll to the bottom to find the toggle button.
