Security Services data usage

I just tried something that seems to be working. I reset only network setting. Go to General/Reset/Reset Network Settings. You will loose all your pre set wifi networks and will connect only to your carrier's cellular carrier. I just did it 30 mins ago and just used only 28MB. Could you please try it and let me know if it also working for you? Cheers

Great analysis! I arrived at the same conclusions as you did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/mgodj4/ios_security_services_downloaded_125gb_over/

The problem seems to have started on or around March 19, 2021. I have 3 devices linked to my account, all of them exhibit the same problem. So far one iPhone 12 Pro Max ate 400GB of data over T-mobile, one iPhone X sent some 60GB over T-mobile, and an iPad another 50GB over Google Fi just today. All of them must have uploaded some 1TB of data combined over WiFi. Insane!

I caught in action one such data upload from one of the phones using pfTop in my pfSense firewall. In 8 minutes the phone uploaded 460MB of data.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnKf-0K6Q0

To me it appears as if a software server at Apple that was pushed on or around March 19 has a bug: it asks a device logged into my account to send some data. The server receives the data but it doesn't log it as being received, and as a result it keeps asking the device, over and over again, to send that data. The fact that this is happening to all the devices linked to an account suggests the problem is not a device that's at fault.

The 2 iPhones linked to my account run 14.4.2, the iPad runs 14.4.1. All exhibit the same symptoms. iOS 14.4.1 was released March 8, iOS 14.4.2 was released March 26. According to my logs the problem started on March 19th, so it is not an iOS issue, but a server side issue.

I opened a case, but things are moving very slow. Escalating an issue probably goes to people that do triages, who are not necessarily engineers. They might not prioritize this as a P0 bug, and since it's affecting a small number of people this could drag on for weeks.

Adding to the discussion (And some backtracking on my end, it seems to have started around the March 17 timeframe for me, thanks for making me look at my firewall logs), it's definitely an iCloud issue. The process responsible for that amount of data wrangling on the iPhone is in fact "cloudd" (the process responsible for iCloud data sync). Logging in on a Mac with. the same AppleID seems to exhibit the same issue (cloudd on the Mac is also syncing a large swath of data) so it's definitely tied to the AppleID. Disconnecting the AppleID from either device (only keeping one active) does not stop the data flow.

Hello, just got off the phone with Apple support after two weeks of calls and uploads of data from my device. The feedback from Apple is that it is an issue with the OS and they will be working on fixing the issue in some future software update. I was advised not to use mobile data until the OS issue is fixed. I have already incurred extra costs for more mobile data and I asked if they would compensate me for these as it's an Apple issue. the response was in the negative! Shame on you Apple.

I was affected by the same problem on both my iPhone and iPad. I‘ve tracked it down to be related to secure notes in the iCloud Keychain that I have created on my Macbook. As soon as I deleted all the secure notes on the Macbook the problem did immediately dissapear.

I also had a few pictures in the secure notes; I‘m not sure if it was the secure notes in general that has caused the high data traffic or if it was just the pictures in the secure notes. Both are not supported in iOS, so I guess that is where the problem lies.

I have the same issue and have had to disable iCloud keychain on both my iPhone and my Mac. Without doing so, it constantly sends data and drains my battery in no time. Since keychain has been rendered unusable for a long time, now looking for an alternative password manager.

Awesome, thanks for the investigative work! In my case simply disabling the iCloud Keychain in iOS' Settings on the affected device seems to have solved the problem. Thanks again!

Hey Guys,

try this solution from the German Apple Community (use translation tools like G-Translation or DeepL.com). Last entry on page 4 by "AnzeigenSpezialist". Hopeful you found so unkown tips. For me it helps. All SecurityService data usage are normal again!

https://communities.apple.com/de/thread/251036470?page=4

It's a problem with the operating system!

My iPhone XR running the latest version of OS has been eating mobile data, especially security services, and I have incurred additional costs with Vodafone for extra data use. I initially contacted Apple and was told this was an issue with my carrier. Vodafone investigated and told me it was an Apple issue. Back to Apple! I contacted Apple and with the help of a very supportive agent who uploaded data from my iPhone and told me he would look into this and get back to me. A week later, he called to say the tech team had investigated and found an issue with the OS and that it would be rectified in an upcoming upgrade. I asked if Apple would reimburse me for the additional costs, and he said no!

I then contacted the corporate office of Apple in Ireland and spoke with someone in that team, explained the problem and said that she would look into it and call me back. A few days later, she called me and offered me a generous discount voucher that I accepted. Perseverance does pay off!

Apple support told me to try to disable all location services.

i just did it and I will let you know ASAP my result.

J_Tsags007 wrote:

I do but it is not managed. I think shutting Keychain off may have done the trick. So far I haven't seen the 900.00mb transfers since doing that but we shall see lol.

I was asking Jérémy06, who said they couldn’t circumvent a restriction.

After my last call to Apple support. I have been able to logout my apoleid. Screen time need to be switched off to be able to logout your appleid.

i will let you know if security services still eat my data plan.

one night later, logged out of my appleid, security services has disappeared from the list of heavy bandwith usage.

I have logged in with my appleid 1h ago and so far security services did not consume anything.

let’s see how it will go today.

You need Apple help here: Get Support

I do but it is not managed. I think shutting Keychain off may have done the trick. So far I haven't seen the 900.00mb transfers since doing that but we shall see lol.