Apple received an unfriendly class-action lawsuit last Friday, claiming that they were responsible for over $5 Million in loss carried by users due to the Wi-Fi assist feature in iOS 9 that switches users to Cellular internet automatically.
In the complaint, William Scott Philips and Suzanne Schmidt Philips allege that because of the new Apple operating system's feature, that switches the internet to cellular data when it detects that the Wi-Fi connection that the phone is hooked up to is slow, has cost users over $5 Million collectively. The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in San Jose on Friday, as Appleinsider states.
The lawsuit is filed over the lack of Apple's efforts to warn iPhone users about the WiFi assists data abuse. The lack of effort in educating it's users is seen to "downplay" the potential data overcharges it might carry along with it.
It's worth mentioning that Apple had released an update on their website explaining the feature, but the lawsuit further states that it was "too late" and "not enough as damage had already been done." Engadget adds that there is no certainty that the lawsuit will succeed, but will prove to be a major expense for Apple, not just monetarily but to the brand trust as well.
"Defendant's above corrective action, however, still downplays the possible data overcharges a user could incur," the suit reads, as stated in GSM Arena. "Reasonable and average consumers use their iPhones for streaming of music, videos, and running various applications - all of which can use significant data. Defendant's corrective statement does not disclose any basis for its conclusion that an average consumer would not see much increase in cellular usage."
For iOS 9 users who are not yet aware of this feature until now, and would want to avoid further data charges, the feature can be deactivated by heading to Settings -> Cellular on your device. However, iOS devices like the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2 may be out of luck as the ability to switch the feature off is not present.
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