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.
I looked further into this and I think this is just really bad communication on Apple’s part. This is network slicing and basically lets apps call for a dedicated 5G connection tailored for them.
So if this is on, a compatible app can say, “I’m streaming live video, please prioritize for low latency and packet loss”, or like a navigation app can say “I’m a background service, I don’t care about latency, packet loss, or throughput stability”.
It isn’t sharing exactly what apps are being used, just what type of network service the apps need. So while Verizon might be able to infer what type of activities you’re doing, your actual activity is encrypted and can still be hidden behind a VPN. This seems like it’s just for better network stability and speed, and I wouldn’t consider it a violation of privacy.
An auto opt-in is an opt-out.
I would love enchanted apps.
Tired of sacrificing? Try sacrificing with enchanted apps!
Where in Settings would this be? Cellular?
I am disgusted by this behaviour
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.
It’s become a pretty standard practice on Apple, Samsung, and Google devices as well as many other Android manufacturers to enable data sharing by default in the US. Especially the last few administrations want as much data as possible about the people, and in the US pretty much all of the companies share this kind of data pretty freely without requiring any judicial oversight since the supreme court has been corrupted. And the current administration HSS basically cut all investigation into any corporations that are friendly to them, so there’s no essentially no risk in collecting, leaking, or selling this data, so why bother making it opt-in. And recently, it’s explicitly risky to not collect and share as much data as possible with the government.
