AT&T is releasing a new app on Wednesday, replacing the MyAT&T app that was previously used to manage account options for mobile and broadband customers. It includes a new AI-based chat assistant, parental controls and more information about calling and data usage.
In general, the release of the application does not matter in itself. But carrier apps are becoming the central way people interact with their wireless and home Internet services, from checking and paying bills to troubleshooting connectivity issues. Verizon has included Google Gemini for frontline support in its app, and T-Mobile is using its T-Life app to stay on top of weekly benefits and even encourage potential customers to switch carriers.
AT&T’s new app — simply, if ironically, called just AT&T — brings together its mobile and home Internet features for what the company calls “integrated” customers who sign up for both. It also has a clean design and feels fast overall.
I tried the beta version of the app before launch, and one of the first things I noticed compared to the MyAT&T app was the removal of a long-standing annoyance. Sometimes when you look at information, the application displays it in a web browser within the interface. I am shown the correct content, but it is feels as if I had been given something else, which did not come together.
“Our data shows that if there is disagreement [customers’] experience, people just come down,” said Andrew Solmssen, vice president of Digital Customer Growth at AT&T. “So we worked really hard” on design and functionality.
Integrated assistant with AI
AT&T’s new app includes the buttons and menus you can expect to navigate to view your bill, check out other plans and services, and buy phones and other items. But Solmssen said the development teams realize those features don’t work for everyone, which is why the biggest new feature is an AI productivity assistant named Andi.
“We find in our tests what people find [these tasks] so it’s easier to do it directly through the conversation,” said Solmssen.
That also allows customers to change context without having to start over or navigate to a new section. If they’re checking to see if an International Day Pass is available, for example, and then switch to wanting to know day pass rates, it’s a matter of asking a follow-up question in the same conversation, he said.
“The focus here is to serve the customer the best way the customer wants to be served,” said Jeff Dixon, AT&T’s vice president of Digital Product Management and Development.
This feature is built using components from licensed LLMs such as Google Gemini and OpenAI models. Customer data stays with AT&T and is not shared with third parties. “All our information has been followed,” Dixon said. “There is a wide red junction… [and] it’s a lot of hard work to make sure everything is safe.”
In my limited testing of the beta app, getting information from the AI assistant was missed. When I asked Andi how long it had been since I last used data on my Apple Watch, she showed me the prices for buying a new watch. And when I asked it to recommend a plan for my account, it suggested AT&T Unlimited Premium PL, which was canceled last week in favor of the new Premium 2.0 plan.
Next I asked it to compare Premium 2.0 with my current plan, but it couldn’t access it. So, in this interaction at least, it doesn’t drag the customer’s experience into the conversation. But when I asked it to compare the Unlimited Elite plan with the Premium 2.0 plan, it gave me a bulleted list of features and a numbered summary of their differences.
I thought my expectations might be too high, but I realized that’s not what I really expect: Conversations like this are meant to be conversational to give you an experience like talking to a real person. If I walk into an AT&T store and talk to one of the employees, they can pull up my account and answer questions with that information nearby.
“It’s still early enough that we’ll have to see how customers use it, how customers like it,” Solmssen said, adding that it still includes the option of going into a store to work with an AT&T representative or contact customer service.
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AT&T’s new app features AI-based chat (left) and controls for pausing devices or groups of devices (right).
Parental controls, detailed data and advanced messages
Another new feature in the app allows you to temporarily suspend devices or sets of devices connected to your accounts. In the example provided by Solmssen, if parents want to ensure a certain period of time away from phones during dinner or family work, they can set each device for 30 minutes, 2 hours or 24 hours. That can be done on an individual level or in a group that includes each child’s phone. While taking time off the phone to have a family dinner is a good thing, some — including parental controls that temporarily turn off kids’ phones wherever they are — can be tough.
If the family is a combined customer with both mobile and home internet on the same account, they can also temporarily suspend Wi-Fi access to devices using the same feature.
Groups can also be set up with off-time schedules, such as going offline during hours when kids (or even parents) should be sleeping.
A few other features stand out. The app shows detailed usage statistics, such as data used by each device in the account, calls and texts and hotspot data.
“Even wireless and unlimited Internet customers want to know about the data they’re using,” says Solmssen. “Being able to see if your child’s devices were using a ton of data at 4 a.m. is incredibly important.”
AT&T has also cleaned up the Messages interface. Hopefully, this means no more notifications popping up and disappearing into the ether if you dismiss them before reading.
The app is available to download now, and is rolling out gradually over the next few weeks to customers who have automatic app updates enabled on their iPhone or Android phones.
