Just updated to iOS 26 and a few hours later got this notice about “enchanted 5g” for some apps. I had no idea what it was, so I checked the details and saw that it was automatic enabled and shares info about what apps you use with Verizon. If it wasn’t for this notification I would have no idea this was running.
No thanks. Disable that.
Edit: “enchanted” lol. Meant enhanced.
On iphone! I expect this behavior on a $49 TCL Walmart phone for Boost Mobile!
Yeah it’s not good. And what’s funny is there no details about what it is. They’re not really selling me on what “enhanced” 5G is and why it’s a benefit.
It was a generic settings app notification that said something like “you’re getting enhanced 5G with Verizon” and that was it. I clicked it and then took the attached screenshot. No additional information other than that it shares my info.
You get to help send your data to Verizon for their AD department to process with AI
An auto opt-in is an opt-out.
What the fuck!?
Where in Settings would this be? Cellular?
Yes. Under cellular. Might be a Verizon-only thing.
this is why t-mobile is pushing t-life so hard.
on android side, was shocked by how much junk and bloatware and how the setup process is tainted with paid suggestions and install offers in this day and age.
I am disgusted by this behaviour
Sony has that too. And essential apps (dialer, contacts, gallery) break if you remove Play Services.
There are FOSS alternatives for all of those on F-Droid. But removing Play Services does break google maps, which is the one app of theirs I still make use of
I would love enchanted apps.
Tired of sacrificing? Try sacrificing with enchanted apps!
Oh my god, I would kill for a taxi app that let me pay in the blood of the innocent. Or a map app that got me there ridiculously fast but always seeing something horrible I could see but not act fast enough to stop–or maybe occasionally through a layer of hell, or something?
Maybe a food delivery app that made all other food taste like ash? A workout tracking app that I could lie on and have retroactively spent like three extra hours doing squats?
An app that creates birds to identify.
Pokemon go but the Pokémon are real and I need to wrestle with the ramifications of that.
A calendar I can actually remember to use
A public transit app that makes the busses be where it says.
A web browser that doesn’t suck!
Social media for the mirror world where not everybody sucks.
I think your isp could probably infer this all already from your internet traffic
I don’t know all the technical aspects of what my carrier might know, but I think that if you load the Chase app, for example, it’s basically just sending an https call to Chase. Not sure if Verizon would know whether that came from an app or browser.
Additionally, if you use a VPN, I don’t know if Verizon would see any of that data. But again, I’m no expert.
They can’t. That’s the primary purpose of a VPN.
Exactly! They wouldn’t install spyware on your phone if it didn’t give them more/better information on you.
Yeah seems like it might have the benefit of VPN circumvention. I would be sending data to Verizon about my app usage and they’d get information they wouldn’t otherwise if I’m using a VPN.
Yeah but if Verizon were to, say, collect usage data so they could figure out where to charge more to unthrottle specific apps, this type of data could be quite useful.
