Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- It appears that leaders at T-Mobile are pressuring employees to download and set up the T-Life app on customers’ phones.
- The carrier has recently revealed that the app is on track for 40 million downloads by the end of the year.
- Some see the move as the company’s attempt to eliminate in-store jobs.
Back in November, T-Mobile finished its app consolidation by shutting down the T-Mobile app, cementing T-Life as its new primary app. About a month later, the carrier’s executives opened up about their plans to make T-Life the company’s “super app.” It appears the people at the top are very eager to see their vision come to life as reports claim that leaders are being aggressive about pushing the app onto customers.
In a Reddit post, a user who is believed to be a T-Mobile employee has described what the current environment is like for in-store staff. According to the user, managers are putting pressure on workers to convince customers to let employees download and set up the T-Life app on their phones. The user also claims that the app often doesn’t work after they install it on the customer’s device.
Other commenters have also shared their two cents, with one saying, “I’ve never heard so many stories about a company pushing their app THIS hard before.” Another user suggests that the company is trying to turn everyone into an online customer so it can reduce its number of brick-and-mortar stores:
They’re trying to convert in person customers into online customers. They’re even trying to get store reps to do walk customers through upgrading through the app, rather than doing it through their tablets. If they can cut down foot traffic then they can have fewer stores, fewer commissioned employees, and save a ton on overhead.
Many of the other comments seem to echo this sentiment or something similar.
During the Wells Fargo Annual TMT Summit, T-Mobile Consumer Group President Jon Freier revealed that the T-Life app is on track for 40 million downloads by the end of the year. He also spoke about the company’s vision for T-Life, hoping for it to become something that allows customers to manage their entire suite of connections to the network and all the benefits they have. Ultimately, T-Mobile is aiming for convenience to convince customers they can upgrade their devices in “three minutes or less” or easily access the carrier’s services all through their smartphones.
It appears T-Mobile’s strategy to attract more customers to its online support has worked so far. For the first time in T-Mobile’s history, the majority of iPhone pre-orders for the iPhone 16 happened digitally. Pre-orders were also up by almost 50% YoY this year.
