The next big addition to T-Life app sounds an awful lot like targeted advertising

T-Mobile has been pushing its T-Life app hard in the last few months, to the point where all retail transactions at physical stores have to happen via it. The carrier has already issued a major T-Life update earlier this year, and it’s just revealed more details about upcoming additions.

T-Mobile outlined future plans for the T-Life app in an official blog post:

Expanding personalization through richer account profiles and interest-based preferences is another key priority. This will surface benefits and experiences tailored to each customer. Small touches, like recognizing birthdays, help make the experience even more personal.

Despite the carrier’s claims that more personalized profiles will enable customized perks, the cynic in me is worried that this is also a bid to gain more user data for advertising and marketing purposes. I’d also be concerned about giving more user data to T-Mobile in light of its breaches over the years.

Nevertheless, we’ve asked the carrier whether this data will be used for marketing purposes as well as whether it’ll be shared with third parties. We’ve also asked what the company is doing to protect this data. We’ll update our article as soon as T-Mobile gets back to us.

Otherwise, the carrier also says it’s now offering T-Mobile Tuesday additions like weekly participation streaks and Spanish-language support. These recent and pending additions come after a major app update earlier this year, which brought 30% faster loading times and the ability to change your phone number. But while those seem like tangible improvements, we’ll have to wait and see whether the carrier’s personalized benefits are worth handing over some data.

T-Mobile also used its blog post to tout new highs for daily, weekly, and monthly active users of the T-Life app. This is no surprise, as it’s now mandatory to use the app in physical stores. So it’s not like customers can avoid the app in the first place.