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spinning wheel icon next to wi-fi indicating network activity

how do I stop the spinning wheel next to the WI-FI icon from constantly spinning?  It's eating up data and reducing battery power.  I've actually figured out what triggers this constant network activity. After I hard reset the I-Phone SE to stop the constant network activity, I can use every app with no problems until I use the microphone on the key pad to write/voice a text message or a note, then the wheel starts spinning non-stop until I restart the phone.   Does anyone know how to correct this problem?????????

iPhone SE, iOS 14

Posted on Oct 24, 2020 4:21 PM

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Posted on Oct 24, 2020 5:11 PM

The spinning icon means that some app is using data. You need to troubleshoot that. If you are using dictation everything you dictate is sent to Apple’s speech recognition server to perform speech to text, and the result is then sent back to your phone. This is the same server that Siri uses. So while you are dictating it will use data continuously, and for a while after you stop as it tries to refine the recognition.


But to troubleshoot go to Settings/Cellular and tap Reset Statistics, and turn off Wi-Fi, so all data goes over cellular. As you use the phone note when it is using data. After a few hours go to Settings/Cellular and the apps that have used data will be listed at the top of the page. You can see which ones used the most.

357 replies

Oct 29, 2020 7:45 PM in response to Dr_Pain

Would just like Chime in and say I have the exact same issue on my new 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch. Spent the day trouble shooting and if I dictate in iMessage the spinning wheel comes up and will not go away. I can replicate the issue very easily and it doesn’t seem to happen in other apps such as safari, I really hope they fix this.

Nov 5, 2020 1:48 AM in response to Spinninground

I’m having the exact same issue with my new 2020 iPhone SE. Only started after the iOS 14 update and still continues after I downloaded the iOS 14.1 update that was released (I think) To fix any minor bugs that had come with the original iOS 14 update.

I remember the last time this issue happened and the easy fix was just to access Siri by saying “Hey Siri” but for me this does not fix the issue 😡. So any time are use my microphone regardless of the reason the wheel will spin continuously until I turn the iPhone off/on.

From 🇦🇺

Nov 5, 2020 6:59 AM in response to elietuna1

elietuna1 wrote:

I’m having the exact same issue with my iPhone SE as well. Exactly as described by machinist above. Only triggers with voice to text.

Well, DUH! The phone has ZERO voice to text capability. All voice to text is done on Apple’s Nuance servers, so your speech must be send over the Internet to the server where the translation is done, then the result is sent back to your phone. And it must be done in real time, so as long as you have any app open that uses voice to text there will be a continuous connection to the voice processing servers. Likewise, any time you use Siri, which is also processed on the Nuance servers.

Nov 5, 2020 9:02 AM in response to elietuna1

Yes, elietuna1. «using voice to text» shouldn’t «trigger the spinning wheel [Network activity indicator] in perpetuity.»


However, we are seeing that only a subset of users are seeing this behavior.


What is not yet known is what the common features are, for that subset of users.


As best we can tell, it is not simply what iPhone model they are using.


It’s certainly not simply the version of iOS or iPadOS, being used.


It could be some setting or combination of settings.


It could be some App or combination of Apps running in the background.


The specifics of the issue are still being investigated.

Nov 29, 2020 5:36 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

I have exactly the same issue with mine. Started a couple months ago. I DID backup my device and do a full restore, and felt certain that would correct the problem (as did the Apple support techs who were advising me). I was honestly devastated to find that it still exhibits the glitch/bug even after restoring to factory settings.

I used to use dictation ALL THE TIME and now I avoid it at all costs because I know what will happen after 1-3 times, and I’ll have to force restart again. I really miss using dictation/voice to text.

spinning wheel icon next to wi-fi indicating network activity

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