Verizon has a new privacy toggle in its app that's enabled by default and potentially allows the carrier to tracks a user's website and app habits. Verizon is the top mobile carrier in the US with more coverage than the other two national carriers. Arguably, it also offers the best LTE experience, and a super speedy (albeit limited) 5G experience with its 5G Ultra Wideband service.
Privacy has become an increasingly important topic recently. Some companies (and users) are willing to sacrifice some privacy in order for a superior experience, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. For example, smart speakers are privacy-invasive by design, as these devices need to always listen for the wake word. Of course, a good smart speaker will discard everything that's said before the wake word is heard.
Verizon's new "Custom Experience" toggle will likely be seen as a privacy overreach by some. As spotted by Input, the new toggle effectively lets Verizon track the various websites a user visits on their device. For reference, Verizon says that the feature doesn't collect information beyond the initial website visited. As an example, it's able to see that a customer visited a movie-related website, but not necessarily the specific articles read. However, the feature is enabled by default for everyone and this does mean that users will need to disable it if they don't want any of this information being actively shared with the carrier. To turn Verizon's Custom Experience off, open the My Verizon app, tap the settings cog in the top right, scroll down and then tap on Manage privacy settings, From here, the user can simply toggle Custom Experience to the off position. If there are multiple lines linked to the same account, disabling may need to be repeated for each line.
Should You Keep 'Custom Experience' Enabled?
There are a few use cases where some may decide to keep the feature enabled. Officially, the company says its Custom Experience program helps to "personalize our communications with you, give you more relevant product and service recommendations, and develop plans, services, and offers that are more appealing to you." In an example given by the carrier, Verizon might determine that a customer has an interest in music and then offer music-related promotions that another customer might not get. Verizon also claims that it does not sell any of the information for advertising purposes.
For reference, Verizon actually has two tiers for the program with the second referred to as Custom Experience Plus. The main difference between them is the level of information collected. Custom Experience Plus not only collects the same information as the standard Custom Experience, but some additional user data as well, such as device location via the Verizon Network and Verizon apps. The documentation doesn't make it exactly clear as to what makes the Plus tier better than the standard version from the customer perspective, so consumers will have to decide for themselves as to how much information they are happy to share. Either way, Verizon makes it straightforward and easy enough to disable its Custom Experience when needed, even though the feature probably should have been opt-in and and not opt-out to begin with.