Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless announced some changes to its data plans. The new plans offer at least 30% more data as well as new features, including carryover data, safety mode, and international calling and roaming for Canada and Mexico. Additionally, the new My Verizon app lets you manage these plans and your account.
I took the new app for a test drive on a Samsung Galaxy Note5. It does a good job of centralizing tasks you want to do regarding your phone service. But, it could go even further, so that you can completely uninstall the other Verizon apps used to manage other aspects of your account.
My Verizon App’s Features
There are five main components to the new app:
- The Feed:Â This is a view within the app that shows details about your data and bill in a News Feed-like view.
- The Data Hub: This is a data control center. It lets you see how much data is being used and allows you to add more if you need.
- Shop: You can purchase phones, tablets, accessories, and make changes to you plan from the shopping component of the app.
- Support: The support interface is set up like a chat interface. You can search for help using keywords and phrases.
- Simplified Bill: A view that shows any changes to your bill month-to-month, and lets you view and pay bills with a few taps.
The User Experience
If you go to the My Verizon app on Google Play, you may see the status as “already installed†if you have My Verizon Mobile on your phone.
I was confused by this at first, but then I saw I could select “update†in Google Play. Doing so uninstalled my Verizon Mobile and installed the new My Verizon app. I wonder if Verizon perhaps should have named the new app something radically different from the old My Verizon Mobile app, to avoid this confusion.
The new Verizon app’s interface is responsive and very well designed. It is highly navigable, and it is easy to find all the different screens and features from the home screen.
The My Verizon app lets you do a few other cool things, in addition to the main tasks listed features mentioned above. For instance, you can edit your phone’s name to customize what others see when they call you.
If I had one complaint, it’s that I wish Verizon would make the new My Verizon app a true one-stop app. You still need the Verizon Cloud app to manage your stored images, video, and other data. It would be ideal if you could do so through My Verizon.
Still, the app is well done and will save customers the hassle of opening additional apps or going to Verizon Wireless’s website to do most of the tasks they would want to do with their phone service plan.