I believe this is precisely why it was defaulted to on. To enhance the user experience for those same non tech savvy users who would have no idea why their web page or email is barely working or not working at all (due to wifi being crap at the moment), and who would have no idea that there is a setting they could turn on that would help with that issue. This makes it "Just work" for those folks.
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Apple Hit With Class Action Lawsuit for New Wi-Fi Assist Feature
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It doesn't matter if they have dropped WIFI or not. What matters is that it is using their limited data without their acknowledgement. I'm sure they would have turned it off if they knew beforehand when they had the iOS 9. In reality, who cares about better experience when you are comparing with usage of data. Before people could afford/or willing to pay for certain amount of data without going over...that is a problem.
There are other factors to causing data usage..like background apps. However, if people knew the big usage difference BEFORE upgrade and AFTER upgrade...yes..it's possible to point finger at wi-fi assist.
Ultimately the consumer will decide.
It couldn't be ANY easier. If Apple cares about the customer experience then I would think it's sensible to let them know about the implications of this feature. Leave it off, but let customers know it's there and how it may improve the use of the device.
The assumption that 'It's understood' will NOT stand up as a defense. It should be OFF by default, and optional to the enduser. Case closed.
The funny thing is that this is how it has worked forever... If your wifi drops you don't have to do anything special to signify to the phone that it's ok to switch to cellular data... we've all worked that way forever.
If Apple would have never mentioned this "feature" at all... and just implemented it to make that switchover a little smarter and smoother with no option to turn it off and no mention in a press release then we would all have just gone on with our lives... with some people maybe remarking that iOS feels snappier now around public wifi spots...
If Apple would have never mentioned this "feature" at all... and just implemented it to make that switchover a little smarter and smoother with no option to turn it off and no mention in a press release then we would all have just gone on with our lives... with some people maybe remarking that iOS feels snappier now around public wifi spots...
I'm guessing you didn't read the thread before posting? This has been said. The logic fail in this argument is that there are millions of people buying their iPhones for the first time and/or upgrading their devices... NOT upgrading their software. That means they didn't get the release notes. And Apple didn't say the feature could potentially cost you money and/or that it was on by default.
I think the feature is great. I also think it shouldn't be buried in the app list and also on by default.
And what explains the same types of complaints at about the same levels after previous iOS updates which didn't have WiFi assist?
And how did people deal with this before iOS 9 here iOS still disconnected them from poor connections and simply took a bit longer to do that at times? Where were all the lawsuits then?
I love this feature! In our building we have distributed WiFI, but in some areas the signal is very weak and pages and FB become very sluggish. That's normally when my phone jumps to data. It's pretty seamless.
Instead of suing get a bigger data plan or move to a new carrier that offers unlimited data.
All Apple needs to do is give a warning whenever it's about to switch over to data.
This is just a money grab..
Instead of suing get a bigger data plan or move to a new carrier that offers unlimited data.
All Apple needs to do is give a warning whenever it's about to switch over to data.
This is just a money grab..
Except it doesn't seem to dropping it like that now even with WiFi assist.
Funny I didn't mention anything at all about release notes or some sort of blind defense of anything, just discussing and questioning things that don't seem to follow, but those who seem to have a bias seem to go for those things.
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To all of you who blame the user for not knowing what the device is doing, remember how Apple deals with other aspects like location and privacy:
Why is it that iOS goes out of the way to alert me about apps that have been using location but not to alert users with WiFi Assist that their WiFi has dropped, or that the feature is continuing to use data? Or that the feature is on at all? Or that it even exists?
What if apps on iOS automatically had Location Services ON by default until the user turned them off? What if there were no pop up alerts saying "Do you want this app to use location" when using a new app?
The default option for Location Services is always OFF until the user either says "Allow" on the pop up or enables it manually in Settings. I hope you people who say "Durr, solution is to turn it off!!!" for WiFi Assist also think it would be okay for newly installed apps to use location until the user switches it off. Or any other privacy option in iOS for that matter.
"Oh, you found out the Google app has been listening through your mic and capturing your location? You should have read their app description carefully! They say they use the mic and location! Why didn't you just turn it off? You should have known, because I knew and there's nobody in the world that doesn't know what I know!"
What if apps on iOS automatically had Location Services ON by default until the user turned them off? What if there were no pop up alerts saying "Do you want this app to use location" when using a new app?
The default option for Location Services is always OFF until the user either says "Allow" on the pop up or enables it manually in Settings. I hope you people who say "Durr, solution is to turn it off!!!" for WiFi Assist also think it would be okay for newly installed apps to use location until the user switches it off. Or any other privacy option in iOS for that matter.
"Oh, you found out the Google app has been listening through your mic and capturing your location? You should have read their app description carefully! They say they use the mic and location! Why didn't you just turn it off? You should have known, because I knew and there's nobody in the world that doesn't know what I know!"
The fact that there weren't any before provides an answer.
So clearly the same things could easily apply in this case and it might very well have nothing to do with WiFi assist.
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Unless you could find me some statistic stating that...I'm not even sure you could even say that. WIFI assist does make your data usage go up.
If it says that you're using cellular data when WiFi Assist disconnects from the wifi, then I don't see at all how Apple could be at fault. That's no different from falling out of wifi range without WiFi Assist and going to cell. It probably just increases the minimum acceptable signal strength. I remember I used to use a Cydia app to join wifi networks that were below the default tolerable signal strength, and it worked (unreliably of course).
No, even those who know how to toggle wifi don't want to have to keep doing that manually to stay off of it in weak zones. It's like how I know how to use FreeBSD on my PC but don't because OS X is much less cumbersome.
Some suits are so frivolous. This is one of them. That's like saying "Apple, I cannot use my phone, so I will sue you since I am incapable of being able to check the settings and tweak them." It's a strategy that is practiced in many ways, but you don't hear someone suing Google for toggling location settings on by default. These guys need to stop wasting their money, time, and hurting judicial economy. Save the courts for more important cases.
I still haven't seen you point to an explanation for why this "prevents speedy resolution." The only claim you've made is that the issue of culpability might make the defendant likely to dig their heels in—but as I noted previously, many class action claims are settled with a payment along with allowing the defendant not to admit wrongdoing.
Agreed. I think the most important word in your post is actually "threat." The mere possibility that there can be legal ramifications is really, really useful. And it's the reason why some things get fixed before they ever get to the legal process—and is the reason why I think some of ptb42's logic is circular.
Unless you can find some statistic showing that, since simply saying that it can be behind all that usage doesn't make it so (especially when similar higher data usage reports have been occurring with previous iOS updates when WiFi assist wasn't available).
No...when one particular user experience trains a user over a period of 5 years a user relies on that user experience without ever considering that they may change it. I think it's actually a great change, but they didn't tell anyone BEFORE it occurred. I know we can argue that it was on a feature list or buried deep in an EULA but that's not real communication. Real communication would have been a pop up window immediately after install was complete stating "FYI your data usage may increase because of this new feature..to disable now press here." Your statement that it has always worked that way is not entirely true. In our situation, when the wifi would crap out we would usually move on or decide for ourselves wether we wanted to switch. And this happened long before the timeout process happened and the phone did it automatically.