Data being used while on wifi

Is Wi-Fi assist turned off?

FWIW. Just to give you an example for comparison. I have an iPhone SE. I normally keep cellular data turned off and use Wi-Fi for my data connections.

I just pulled a report from my router that gives me details on what kind of data traffic this iPhone is doing via the Internet and here are the results:

• File Transfer
  • iCloud
  • Web File Transfer
• Instant messaging
  • Apple iMessage
• Network Management
  • DNS
• Network Protocols
  • Google APIs(SSL)
  • Google User Content(SSL)
  • HTTP Protocol over TLS SSL
  • IMAP4 Protocol over TLS SSL
  • Lets Encrypt
  • World Wide Web HTTP
• Social Network
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
• Streaming Media
  • iTunes
  • Youtube
• Web
  • Amazon
  • Amazon CloudFront
  • Apple.com
  • eBay
  • HTTP

A number of these are app related and the only ones that "surprise" me are Facebook, Twitter, and eBay as I don't have any of these apps on my phone, nor do I have accounts with them. There is only a tiny amount of data going to these services, but it makes me wonder why there is any traffic at all.

According to what I have read, in order to use iMessage, you do need to have an Internet connection. Now, if you choose to turn off Cellular Data on your iPhone, then you must have an active WiFi connection. Otherwise, your iPhone will default to sending your messages as SMS, which doesn't use Cellular Data.

When you say that you are on Wi-Fi, do you mean on a Wi-Fi network in your home?

If you are out and about and using your iPhone, and not on a free Wi-fi network somewhere, or on a public Wi-Fi network provided by your carrier -- a.k.a. hotspots -- then your iPhone will default to using Cellular Data if you have it turned on.

I would think that gaming -- at least if you are playing multiplayer Internet games -- would indeed use a lot of Cellular Data.

Personally, if that is all that your ISP can do to help you, and if they only offer you 25 MB of data usage a month -- that sounds crazy; did you really mean to say GB? -- then I would say that maybe it is time for you to look for a different carrier/ISP, assuming you can afford it.

Tesserax, you probably already know this, but while you may not have Facebook or Twitter installed on your iPhone, nevertheless, you may have other apps on your phone which -- depending on how the developers coded their apps -- may surreptitiously make requests to those websites for a variety of reasons.

Push notifications use cellular data.

Good point, thanks!

Trust me; when you install L.S., you see that kind of stuff all the time. It is amazing how much goes on behind our backs, without our explicit permission or knowledge.

If your phone is locked it is not on Wi-Fi, which is turned off when the phone goes to sleep unless it is plugged in.