What the AF does
An AF provides application-related information that can influence policy or routing, subject to operator authorisation.
Trusted and external applications
An operator-controlled AF may communicate with relevant functions directly, while external applications commonly use the NEF as a secure exposure boundary.
Slicing relevance
Application intent can help connect a particular service flow with suitable policy, edge placement or routing inside a slice.
Standards note: this page is an explanatory summary. Precise procedures, services and information elements are defined in the applicable 3GPP specifications.