iPhone software update used cellular data instead of wifi

Question

Level 1

14 points

iPhone software update used cellular data instead of wifi

Whenever an iPhone software update becomes available I always connect it to my iMac's iTunes using wifi. Always. This time I did the same but the 2.93GB update used my cellular data instead despite the wifi signal clearly visible. There is no problem with my wifi - Netflix works. I guess next time I will just disable cellular data before the upgrade.. but has anyone else had this problem recently?

(using iPhone 5s with 2010 iMac intel core i7 running macOS Sierra 10.12.6)

iPhone 5s

Posted on Aug 27, 2019 9:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,678 points

Aug 27, 2019 9:50 PM in response to jezza.keat

What makes you believe that the update used cellular data. The iPhone will not do an over the air update via cellular data. That is not allowed on the iPhone. It has to be done via wi-fi. And if you were using iTunes to do the update, then it would use the internet connection for the computer to download the update.

Reply

Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,678 points

Aug 27, 2019 10:05 PM in response to jezza.keat

How is your computer connected to the internet? You said you were using iTunes to do the update, not the iPhone. I just read your additional entry about your Personal Hotspot. It almost sounds as if you use the iPhone to connect the computer to the internet through Personal Hotspot, and then updated the iPhone via that. Otherwise, as I said, the iPhone cannot do an over the air update of iOS via cellular data. iOS just won't do it.

Reply

Answer 3

Aug 27, 2019 9:49 PM in response to jezza.keat

Instead of disabling Cellular Data next time, I would suggest you to disable WiFi Assist.

Reply

Answer 4

jezza.keat Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 27, 2019 9:58 PM in response to jezza.keat

update: I have noticed when I performed this update it turned on my iPhone's personal hotspot so thats what caused the problem.

Reply

Answer 5

jezza.keat Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 27, 2019 10:00 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

because during the update I kept getting messages from my phone's carrier saying 'data is getting low'. That's never happened before.

Reply

Answer 6

jezza.keat Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 27, 2019 10:10 PM in response to SravanKrA

Good one! Didn't know about Wifi assist. Maybe my wifi connectivity was poor so it switched to my cellular data. I am on a new carrier and currently the weather outside is very poor. Thank you

Reply

iPhone software update used cellular data instead of wifi

Similar questions