T-Mobile users say upgrading in-store is becoming a thing of the past – and not everyone’s happy

I remember a time when you just walked into a carrier store, chose a new phone, got it and moved on with your day. Yes, things have changed and it’s true there’s undeniable convenience about shopping online… but some people may still want to go the traditional route. Apparently, this customer wasn’t allowed to do that and they didn’t exactly like it. An annoyed Reddit user has expressed their frustration with an experience in a T-Mobile store when they went to get a new phone. They say they went to an authorized retailer with their dad to get him a new phone. However, they were told by the employees that upgrades are done only through T-Mobile‘s app:

-SonOfRobot8 on Reddit, March 2025

Curiously, another Redditor, apparently a T-Mobile representative, says that it is true and that they have to come for a legitimate reason to put as an explanation for why an upgrade had to be made in-store. Other T-Mobile reps on the thread also corroborate this, saying that the company is forcing them to make customers do their upgrades online via the T-Life app, and claim they even get in trouble if they don’t follow this policy.

Meanwhile, other Redditors express a very legitimate worry with this approach: some people are just not tech-savvy enough to do upgrades over an app (like, my grandma, for one).

This is not the first time we’re hearing about people being pushed to not upgrade in a physical location, or having a troublesome experience when trying to do so. For one, a recent situation we reported on included a person having to spend two hours in a T-Mobile store only to find out in the end that they have to upgrade via the T-Life app.

Unfortunately, that approach may be convenient to many but risks frustrating others who are used to doing things the traditional way.

We have reached out to T-Mobile for a comment and we’ll update this article when we receive a response.