Wi-Fi Assist

Five 'Wi-Fi Assist' stories September 2015 - January 2017

How to tell if Wi-Fi Assist is actually using too much iPhone data

Zac Hall Jan 19 2017 - 10:05 am PT

iphone-7-plus-jet-black-4

There’s a feature on iPhones called Wi-Fi Assist that is a common source of confusion for a lot of users. Wi-Fi Assist helps your iPhone switch to cellular data with your carrier when your local Wi-Fi is too weak to offer fast enough loading speeds.

That sounds risky especially if you have a limited monthly data cap, but most people shouldn’t have to worry about turning Wi-Fi Assist off. Here’s how to check and understand how much data Wi-Fi Assist is actually using.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Teenager blames Wi-Fi Assist for $2,000 bill as he racks up 144GB of data on his iPhone plan

Ben Lovejoy Jan 6 2016 - 4:51 am PT

44 Comments

wi-fi-assist-iphone

One person who definitely didn’t read our PSA on Wi-Fi Assist last September is San Francisco teenager Ashton Finegold. CBS News says that he is blaming the feature on a mobile phone bill for $2,021.07 as he racked up 144GB of data.

It turns out Ashton Finegold’s bedroom is one such place with a weak [Wi-Fi] signal. So while he thought he was still connected to his home Wi-Fi while surfing the web in his room, his iPhone was eating up more than 144,000 MB of data.

The piece notes that Finegold did receive a text message warning from his carrier, which he ignored …

Wi-Fi Assist is an iOS 9 feature that automatically uses mobile data when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection. By default, it is switched on – leading to a $5M class action suit against Apple. Apple issued a support document explaining exactly how the feature works in October of last year.

Image: TekRevue

Apple faces $5M class action suit over iOS 9 Wi-Fi Assist feature using too much data

Cam Bunton Oct 24 2015 - 12:25 pm PT

65 Comments

Apple is now faced with yet another class action lawsuit claiming that the company failed to properly educate or warn users over the potential for iOS 9’s Wi-Fi Assist to use substantial amounts of cellular data. The lawsuit arose after users complained that Wi-Fi Assist resulted in significant overages after going over their data allowance…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple clarifies how Wi-Fi Assist handles cellular data usage in iOS 9

Zac Hall Oct 14 2015 - 9:24 am PT

20 Comments

Buried deep in the Cellular section of the Settings app in iOS 9 is a new networking feature called Wi-Fi Assist that lets your iPhone use cellular data over Wi-Fi during poor connectivity. Intended to remedy those times when your iPhone gets stuck trying to load data on a weak Wi-Fi connection due to range or other issues, Wi-Fi Assist raised a concern for many iPhone users on tiered data plans after iOS 9 was released.

The feature is turned on by default, so users could mistakenly eat up expensive data on a weak Wi-Fi network without realizing cellular data was being used. Addressing concerns that have been raised over iOS 9’s Wi-Fi Assist feature, Apple issued a new support document this week that details how the feature handles certain situations (via Six Colors):
Expand
Expanding
Close

PSA: Keep an eye on your mobile data if you ever use poor-quality WiFi

Ben Lovejoy Sep 28 2015 - 4:26 am PT

13 Comments

If you ever use your iPhone on poor-quality WiFi networks, you may want to check your mobile data usage. As Quartz noted, a new feature introduced with iOS 9 is leading some people to see dramatic increases in their mobile data usage.

Wi-Fi Assist means that iOS recognizes slow WiFi and supplements it with mobile data. Great for ensuring your browsing experience doesn’t suffer, but it can come at a cost, with some users reporting that their iPhone is now using literally gigabytes more mobile data since upgrading. Unless you have unlimited data, that can get expensive.

Wi-Fi Assist is on by default, and rather hidden away in Settings, so here’s how to switch it off …
Expand
Expanding
Close