spinning wheel icon next to wi-fi indicating network activity

I tried Lawrence’s troubleshooting method, but I was only able to monitor cellular data usage while the spinning indicator was persistent for about 30 minutes. Since I couldn’t reset my statistics beforehand, I had to just take screenshots before and after. I didn’t notice any unexplained changes in app usage, but I did see some suspicious changes in the System Services. None of the processes used a large amount of cellular data in that timeframe, but I’m not sure which ones I should be expecting to use ANY data.

Messaging Services went from 1.3MB to 1.6 MB. I did have a few messages in that time frame, plus this problem we are troubleshooting happens even when dictation is used outside of Messaging, so I am disregarding this for now.

DNS Services went from 1.3MB to 1.4MB. I think this is most likely issue.

Siri Services went 775 kB to 791 kB. I know this is minute, but I have Siri turned off, so I would’ve expected 0.

Documents & Sync went from 464 kB to 503 kB. Probably not an issue.

Security Services went from 392 kB to 441 kB.

Can anyone else please confirm they DO NOT experience the problem when using dictation while only on cellular data, with WiFi turned off? Thanks!

Thank you for checking Dickniaz! Your results prompted me to check again, but this time I went outside of my work building before doing so. I can also confirm that I get the same persistent spinning icon whether I am on WiFi or cellular data. I believe my experience yesterday was a result of being inside a concrete bunker with very poor cellular reception (which I should've been aware of).

Back to square one.

I am getting the same exact situation when I speak into my phone via dictation I sincerely hope that Apple fixes this bug very fast it is aggravating and when I called Apple support they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about and I get on here and read all these other people with the exact same situation I am having

I have tried hard reset many times, factory rest. Every time I use the microphone it comes back. Until Apple fixes this VERY annoying problem I can only suggest doing as I have which is turning off Dictation in settings.

Not being able to use dictation is slow and cumbersome for long text messages but at least I’m not chewing up extra data.

APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE!!!

I can't help but notice that nobody seems to be talking about the "Hey Siri" thing. As silly as it sounds, it seems to work for me most of the time. It is much less annoying than having to restart. Just set up Siri so that you can just say "hey Siri" without having to push your home button. Make sure all of your apps are closed as well as pages on safari. Then say "hey Siri". Give it a second or two and then say "never mind" The frustrating little data wheel will disappear most times.

Even if that does work as a band-aid solution, I do not want to enable Siri, so it's not an option for me. If that does work though, that also makes me think it might have something to do with that DNS Services process I pointed out earlier. I'm not very knowledgeable on networking, but my layman's understanding is that DNS services are used to locate and make the initial connection to a certain domain or server. If that is the process that continues running when the indicator is continually spinning, maybe it's not breaking the connection once dictation is done through the keyboard, but then activating Siri causes DNS services to make the connection to the server again and then it disconnects properly? I could be way off though.

I am not suggesting that this is a permanent fix. As I said is just less of an inconvenience than restarting your phone. Hopefully a permanent fix will come soon. I am not trying to tell anyone what to do. just trying to help

What I am saying is it doesn't work at all. The spinning wheel doesn't even stop for a second. It might be a remedy for another spinning wheel issue (which I have encountered before). But not in this case.

All I am saying is that my data wheel starts spinning as soon as I do voice to text. It will not stop for days unless I do one of two things. Either restart the phone or the hey Siri thing. Not sure why it works for me and not for others. I am still in communication with Apple and will be sure to let you know if something positive develops.

I’m sorry, Machine_Ruse, but you have a quite incorrect understanding of how the Domain Name Service (DNS) works: all DNS does is translate an internet name, like www.apple.com into the IP (Internet Protocol) address (the numbers separated by periods).

Unless there is something quite wrong with your DNS setup, this takes milliseconds.

Yep, I was aware of what DNS stands for, and all I was saying is that it is used to make the initial connection. Translating the website name into an IP address is one of the things that gets done to make the connection.

What I am suggesting is that there is an issue with the DNS service, since it appears to continue running and using data when the phone was idle (except the spinning network indicator).

Should I expect the DNS Service to continue using data in the background?

OK maybe one of you can make sense of this. Just checked my old iPhone 7 that had the problem before I purchased my SE. There is no data wheel problem with this phone now. So I can only conclude that it has something to do with removing the Sim card. 🤔

My earlier post, where I turned off WiFi and noted the statistics for cellular data usage, and then induced the persistent spinning wheel by activating dictation. I let it spin for awhile and then looked at cellular data usage again to see what processes used any data. DNA Services was one of the few.

The troubleshooting step was suggested by Lawrence Finch and was done a few days ago.

Just to clarify, your iPhone 7 currently has WiFi, but not cellular data? Now you can use Apple’s speech-to-text services without getting the persistent spinning network indicator?

If that’s the case, I’m still not sure what it means. Based on the prevalence of iPhone SE users reporting this problem, I think it’s definitely a problem that is model-specific. That doesn’t mean other iOS devices don’t also have problems with the same symptom, I just think there is something specific going on with the SE.

Is that exactly what it was called, Machine_Ruse: «DNA Services»?

As far as I know, the DNS service, within iOS, is not called «DNS Services».

If you perform a search, on the affected iPhone, for «DNS Services», what comes up?