iPhone Reminder for overdue bill?

[JoeH]

For the first time ever, I received an Outlook reminder telling me to "Call back O2." I didn't remember creating this and after some brief investigation I discovered that a reminder had been added to my default iPhone Reminders list. This was synced via iCloud to Outlook.

The subject was "Call back O2", the timestamp was for the current time and the subject was a hyperlink which prompted me to call +44 330 123 9245. My bill is overdue and obviously O2 should be contacting me about this.

In the past, I would receive text messages or voicemails about overdue bills but this was the first time an iPhone Reminder was automatically created.

Did this come from the My O2 app which I have installed on my iPhone? I didn't see any settings which would allow automatic creation of reminders. I also checked my Privacy settings in iOS and nothing is authorised to use my Reminders.

Is this something in the Terms & Conditions for iPhone Pay Monthly customers?

Thanks for any help.

Joe

[Cleoriff]

Well actually @JoeH we have learnt something new with your post. Good on you though setting up a second direct debit. I have a sim only contract and pay via this route...

[jonsie]

I'd like to ask if there are any other iPhone users seeing this? The update had been out for a while and if it's now a standard feature it seems strange no one else has reported this. I remain sceptical I'm sorry. Why have o2 not then built this into Android? Mnn. ...

[JoeH]

No need to be sorry. Honestly, I'm uneasy at the situation, too. I've had late bills before and this is the first time this has ever happened.

I spent a good bit of time just trying to figure out WHAT had happened. Did I create this reminder and just forget as was proposed earlier? After reassuring myself that was NOT the case, I immediately assumed it was the My O2 app.

Seems perfectly sensible...it's about my bill, it's an official app, third-party apps can create Reminders (with explicit user approval)...I wasn't really worried because I figured I could just turn it off.

When I saw that my Privacy settings only allowed one app (not the My O2 app) access to my Reminders that's when I started to become much more curious and decided to ask via this thread. I thought for sure someone else had seen this. And here we are.

I've put in a support request to Apple to ask if mobile carriers have some kind of internal-only app which allows them to bypass user authorisation to create local data on a phone. I'm not at all worried that my iCloud data was compromised. I'm 100% sure the reminder had to be created locally on my phone and only then synced via iCloud to Outlook.

I'm not even bothered that it happened. I'm just curious HOW it happened.

Just to add...one other thing that I thought was unusual about the reminder was that it contained a hyperlink subject. I use Reminders all the time and have never seen that before. I assumed it was a new feature so I tried to create a new Reminder but couldn't see how to make a hyperlink subject. I tried holding on the text and assumed I would see some kind of "Add Hyperlink" option on the Cut/Copy/Paste menu, but I didn't. I also though maybe I could copy and paste from a Note, but that didn't work either. 

Does anyone know how to make a hyperlinked Reminder directly on the phone?

[JoeH]

More information...

I just checked the Reminder via iCloud.com and it is NOT a hyperlink there. It is only a hyperlink on my phone. This further reinforces my belief that the reminder was simply created locally on the phone.

Joe

[jonsie]

Thanks for that @JoeH but maybe one of the O2 staff who post privately can shed some light on this. @Toby @rosadosc ?

[Anonymous]

I'm not aware of any O2 service that behaves like that but what you describing sounds like one of those bill reminder apps... Have you downloaded anything like that @JoeH?

[JoeH]

No. I only have one app which allows access to my Reminders and it is unrelated to this problem.

I have 3 O2 apps on my phone: My O2, O2 Priority and TU Go.

None of them have access to my calendar or my reminders.

The My O2 app and TU Go have access to my Contacts.

Joe

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure that it's built in feature to the iOS as I haven't seen this unless it's only if your bill is paid manually?

[jonsie]

I find it strange that no one, no one, has reported this before and I am highly sceptical of a guru who only seemed to want to move on to the next chat. Love to be proved wrong however...

[JoeH]

Just a brief update for those who are still interested.

I heard back from Apple's Developer support team. There is no officially supported way to create hyperlinked Reminders using currently shipping developer tools.

Obviously, this has only furthered my interest in how I ended up with one on my phone. It also confirmed that I know how to read Apple's Developer documentation. 

I am continuing to pursue this from both the Apple side as well as the O2 side.

I won't post here again until I have what I consider an appropriate answer from either company.

Joe