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A Florida couple filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit against Apple over a new iPhone feature

Tim Cook
Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

A couple in Florida filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit this week that claims Apple wasn't clear enough about the implications of one of its new iPhone features called Wi-Fi Assist.

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Wi-Fi Assist is a new feature in Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 9, that automatically switches your iPhone's connection from Wi-Fi to your carrier's cellular network if the Wi-Fi signal is too weak to load content properly.

It sounds useful and great, except there have been complaints that it can switch over to a cellular connection and cause higher-than-normal data usage. This could be bad for people with limited data plans.

The Wi-Fi Assist feature is turned on by default, which is one of the complaints posted in the court document.

Apple released a statement earlier in October saying that iPhone users might experience a small increase in cellular data usage with the Wi-Fi Assist feature on.

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In fact, a tweet from Tech Insider's very own Alex Heath was used as one of the primary examples in the court document that iPhone customers might be experiencing way more cellular data usage than they're used to: 

court apple wifi assist class action lawsuit
United States District Court Northers District Of California

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.

To turn off Wi-Fi Assist on your iPhone go to Settings > Cellular > and switch off Wi-Fi Assist at the very bottom of your screen.

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