Apple’s iOS WiFi Assist blamed for teenager’s $2000 bill

Well the family attributes it to a new feature on Ashton’s Apple iPhone called Wi-Fi Assist.

Apple’s new Wi-Fi Assist feature aims to make web browsing a seamless experience, but it could mean trouble for users with limited data plans, it has been claimed.

The switch happens in the background so as not to disturb whatever you’re using the phone for and the feature is turned on by default.

When teenager Ashton Fiengold got a warning that his data usage was up he didn’t think twice. CBS News reports that a teenager in San Francisco recently got a phone bill for more than $2,000 after using 144GB of monthly data on his iPhone that had Wi-Fi Assist enabled. According to the teenager, the message said that approximately 65 percent of his data had been used, as reported by KYW-TV News.

And then this bill came.

“I thought my dad was going to kill me”, Finegold told CBS News. Like in Ashton’s bedroom where he thought he was still connected to Wi-Fi while streaming and surfing.

Apple has offered some details about Wi-Fi Assist on a support page, explaining how to turn the program on or off.

“Usually it was about $250 a month and it was over $2,000”, his father said. The suit stated that Apple provided “no warning or disclosure when the phone switches from Wi-Fi to cellular data”.

“That is pretty high – but I can see it happening”, says Mike Campbell with the website Apple Insider.

But to turn off Wi-Fi Assist, go to Settings, then cellular, then down at the bottom is where you switch off Wi-Fi Assist. That’s why there’s an uproar, ‘ Campbell told CBS.

This isn’t the first time Apple has been in hot water over this feature.