Data

Verizon raising price of grandfathered unlimited data plans by $20 in November

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Verizon on Thursday announced that it will soon be raising the price on grandfathered unlimited data plans by $20. As noted by CNET, this will bring the monthly price tag of unlimited data to $49.99 per month, which is in addition to the standard talk and text plan, and the change is set to take place in November.

The amount of people affected by this move should be relatively small. Verizon says that less than 1% of its 100+ million subscriber base still has an unlimited plan, and those that do still have one and are currently under contract from a previous phone purchase won't likely see the price hike until the contract expires.

AT&T cutting prices of shared data plans and unveiling new ones tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 14, 2015

U.S. wireless carrier AT&T announced this morning a few notable changes coming to its shared-data plans beginning tomorrow. For starters, customers on existing Mobile Share Value Plans with fifteen and twenty gigabytes of cellular data will now pay less for their high-speed 4G LTE data: the 15GB plan will drop from $130 to $100 per month while the 20GB tier will go from $150 down to $140 per month.

This was the most played music on Beats 1 last month

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

As Apple and its executives continue to point out, what sets Beats 1 apart from other streaming radio services is its human curation. Instead of software algorithms, Beats 1 features real-life DJs that play whatever song they are feeling at any given moment.

But that doesn't mean you won't hear music get repeated. Quartz tracked the Beats 1 playlist throughout the month of July, and according to its data, out of 12,445 songs, only 3,371 were unique. This means that each song was played an average of 3.7 times.

T-Mobile enforces 21GB soft cap on Simple Choice plans ahead of tomorrow’s Un-Carrier Amped event

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 24, 2015

As reported by the TMoNews blog, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier, has introduced a soft cap on data usage for its Simple Choice customers in the form of 21 gigabytes of high-speed 4G LTE cellular data. Exceeding this monthly allotment won't incur additional charges, but your speed may be throttled during periods of network congestion.

Previously, T-Mobile would specifically throttle only the three percent of its top data-hungry subscribers. With today's change, other users may see their speeds temporarily dropped after exceeding 21 GB of data usage during a billing period.

Carrier Settings Update: what it is and how to check for it

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated March 22, 2017

From time to time, you might see a Carrier Settings Update message pop up on your iPhone, saying that new settings are available, and asking if you would like to update them now. Admittedly, this message is somewhat cryptic, and doesn't give you any information regarding what's included in the update or where it's coming from. Maybe even worth, I've had a friend ask me once if his iPhone got hacked as the message looked suspicious to him. In this post, we'll tell you more about carrier settings updates, what they are, and how to check for them.

How to export and import your Health data

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 12, 2018

Apple has really changed the way I think about my overall health and fitness, starting with iOS 7 and the M7 motion coprocessor of iPhone 5s. I went from being completely oblivious of my weight and physical fitness, to being obsessed with them. Apple Watch has made that even more obvious, as I now feel accountable for everything I do. At the end of the day, I have the satisfaction of looking at my stats in the Health app and see my progress.

As someone who talks about Apple for a living, I am often restoring devices, moving data from one iPhone to another, and also upgrading hardware every year. This is part of the fun for me. But there is a downside to this behavior: every time I set an iPhone as a new device, I lose all of the data from my Health app.

In this post, I will show you how to export Health app data, and import that same data into a freshly restored device, or a new device, depending on your situation.

UPDATE: A new application has been released in the App Store that makes the Health data import process much easier. While the information contained in this post is still accurate, I must say that Health Data Importer makes moving your Health data from one iPhone to another a breeze and I suggest you read that post instead.

Apple Maps gains data from NavAds, Yellow Pages and other partners

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple on Friday updated the Acknowledgements page for its mapping software, adding a handful of new data partners. The page gives credit to TomTom, Yelp and other companies that provide Apple Maps with imagery and information.

Among the new partnerships added this week are E-WEGO, a business listing firm, navigational ad expert NavAds, and Yellow Pages. TripAdvisor and Booking.com are also now listed as official partners, following a report earlier this year.

AT&T pulling back on throttling of unlimited LTE customers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

AT&T is pulling back on its throttling efforts against unlimited LTE customers, reports ArsTechnica. The site noticed that the carrier recently changed its policy to say that it will only throttle users with unlimited LTE data plans who have both exceeded 5GB in a billing cycle and are in an area experiencing network congestion.

Previously, AT&T's policy said that unlimited LTE users could experience slower data speeds after reaching 5GB, with no mention of location. The change comes after customers complained the carrier's throttling—some reported speeds as slow as 0.5Mbps—was part of its strategy to sway them away from their unlimited plans.

Data usage tracking app DataMan comes to Apple Watch

Sébastien Page ∙ April 13, 2015

DataMan, my app of choice for tracking cellular data usage on iPhone, was just updated today to bring its simple interface to Apple Watch, allowing you to quickly have a look at your data usage directly from your wrist.

Tim Cook: there is no reason why you would have to choose between privacy and security

Oliver Haslam ∙ February 28, 2015

Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the final leg of his tour of Isreal and Europe and has been speaking to UK publication The Telegraph about a range of things including Apple customers' privacy and of all things, terrorism.

Known for his unusual stance on privacy - one which doesn't jive with other high profile tech executives who are happy to share everything about you - Cook told the publication during an interview that he feels people's information is being "trafficked around" in ways that they just don't yet understand.

ReStats: automatically reset cellular statistics after a set time interval

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 20, 2015

If you have a limited data plan with your wireless carrier, then you're no doubt at least vaguely aware of how much data you burn through each month. While iOS has some built in statistics that can help you measure your wireless data usage, it's easy to forget to reset the usage statistics to correspond with your billing cycle. That's where a brand new jailbreak tweak called ReStats comes into play...

Report: iPhone 6 Plus users consume twice the data of iPhone 6 users

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Owners of larger smartphones tend to use a lot more data than those with smaller screens, according to a new report from Citrix. The marketing research firm found that, on average, iPhone 6 Plus users consume twice the data of those with an iPhone 6.

While it makes sense that the 6 Plus would eat more data due to its larger display, Citrix thinks the difference has more to do with user behavior. People are treating the 6 Plus like they would a tablet, playing more games and streaming a lot more video.