T-Mobile now supports Apple’s Business Chat

by Jonny Evans · Published April 11, 2018 · Updated April 11, 2018

Now you can use Apple’s Business Chat to speak with T-Mobile

T-Mobile stole a march on rivals today, introducing Business Chat for iPhone on T-Mobile, meaning customers, business users and potential customers can make contact with the network using Messages on their iPhone – and the company says you’ll be speaking to humans, not chatbots, when you do.

Messaging for the rest of us

The U.S. network has supported messaging as a way for customers to make contact since 2016, when it introduced it in its own T-Mobile app. The feature means the company now handles three times as many chats via message as it did before the launch.

That chimes with data provided to me by Nuance:

Over 55% of consumers prefer to use a form of messaging to communicate with companies
21% of people have communicated with businesses via text
2% have used social media messaging (Facebook Messenger, WeChat)

To use Apple Business Chat, just swipe right on iPhone, search for T-Mobile and hit the Chat icon. Or search for T-Mobile in your Maps app and click the Chat icon.

What to expect

“Starting today, through Apple Business Chat on T-Mobile, you can change your rate plan, change your address and buy a new phone,” T-Mobile states, announcing the feature.

“You can ask questions, make a payment, check your balance…you can even send us screenshots so we can quickly and easily troubleshoot any issues. Just shoot us a message.”

[Also read: How to use Business Chat to get things done]

Of course, because it’s a Business Chat you can use whatever Apple device you want to maintain the conversation you’ve started, as long as they are all connected to the same Apple ID. That means you can start a chat on an iPhone, continue it using Message son your Mac, and finalize it on an Apple Watch.

T-Mobile’s boast

T-Mobile is the only U.S. wireless provider currently offering support for Business Chat. We’ll see how long that lasts, but it puts it this way:

“Most brands make you come to them in just the way they tell you,” the company said.

“That’s not how the Un-carrier rolls. We want to be radically easy to do business with. That’s why we’re showing up in the places you already use to communicate – messaging, Twitter, Facebook and now, through Apple Business Chat on your iPhone.”

T-Mobile joins a growing number of U.S. businesses now offering support for Apple’s feature.