Security Services data usage

Last night I ran Xcode’s Instruments Network analyzer and I confirmed that cloudd running on the device is at fault. During 4 minutes it uploaded 400MB of data over 2 separate SSL connections.

This is clearly a bug in the communication between Apple’s servers, and iOS devices. Hopefully it can be fixed with a server side update, without having to push a software update.

The bug seems to be related not to a specific device, but to an iCloud account. As a result resetting network settings on one device will not help solve the problem, it will merely postpone it.

As of now on my iPhone I have 86.8GB downloaded over cellular. The billing cycle ends May 3rd. I’m very curious to see how much higher can it go before Apple does something.

Noticed the same thing on my mac and iphone. There is definitely a similar (if not the same) issue affecting IOS and OSX. The vampiric cloudd sucked over one TB over the course of 2 weeks last month, sending me way over the limit with my ISP. Erased and reinstalled OSX (I now think that was unnecessary), moved all my files (except photos) from icloud to google drive, left icloud drive on but turned off desktop and document sync. That last step solved the problem. Haven't had the issue on my mac ever since. About a week later, ATT alerted me that I was about to hit my limit on cellular usage. That's when I discovered cloudd's evil iOS twin, security services. It's been burning over 1GB per hour for the past couple weeks. Tried toggling iCloud Drive but it's still going. Sent me over my limit with ATT, so I switched to an unlimited plan for the time being.

This weekend I tried to drop all my secure notes from my iCloud Keychain.

It did not solve the problem. Still a lot of additional mobile data volume used.

Support is not helping so far.

Only switching off iCloud Keychain helped me also.

I was hopeful the recent MacOS 11.4 update may have addressed this issue, but alas– my optimism was misplaced. After the update, I turned iCloud keychain syncing back on and within minutes the upload barrage began and didn't stop for 4 hours. I turned it back off (at least it let me this time), and my paltry, rural LTE connection became usable again.

Still need to set up an old Mac with OS X 10.11 to test the 'repair keychain' option after enabling iCloud keychain. One day...

In my case my mobile data under settings was complete off. And even more (mobile) data usage every day + as I work from home, too.

Only one that helps at the end was this thread on German apple discussion forum:

https://communities.apple.com/de/thread/251036470?answerId=254395725622#254395725622

Use DeepL.com for translation.

It looks like the Apple servers are going even madder! This is pfTop on my firewall, while the phone is connected to WiFi. A connection started while another one was already running. They both uploaded 1.4GB in 20 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAtxixSRbQk

The case I opened with Apple is stagnant, just as I feared.

Who's going to pay for all the costs incurred? I'm already out a couple hundreds in Internet fees.

Having the same issue. I reset net settings a few days ago and it seemed to fix. Then checked today and saw security services is back at it again. Reset usage stats to see how much it was using per hour. After 3hrs, 3.5gb. Insane. I've had to just switch my att plan from 16gb to unlimited until Apple figures this bug out. I'm getting an apple support callback tomorrow.

I have had the same issue for weeks as you all. Apprx 8 Apple support calls that resulted in them giving me a replacement iphone 12pro. I have heard everything from "this is a unique issue" to "wait for the update", to its your phone. I switched to new phone Tuesday afternoon and sure enough this morning I am getting the same high cellular data transfers again. Even on wifi. Not sure if everyone else is experiencing this but my transfers are 900.00mb on the nose each. I am at 3.9GB of data used in round 30 hours. No discernable pattern as far as when it happens or where. I have tried all of the aforementioned solutions such as network data reset, full reset, set up phone as new, etc. They all solved the issue for a brief amount of time but then it returns, usually hours later. So I believe that it has to be on their end as well. My concern is that its killing my battery. I'm guessing shutting off cellular when its not needed is only hope?

My iPhone 12 Pro Max (iOS 14.5.1), and my M1 MacBook Pro (MacOS 11.3.1) have been showing similar symptoms for several weeks now. My anemic rural upload bandwidth is being used to the fullest as I type on the MBP now. The iPhone isn't hammering it only because I have to put it in Airplane mode when I'm not actively using it. For weeks, the phone would get uncomfortably warm in my pocket and the battery would be at 20% by a little after lunchtime.

I can not turn off iCloud Keychain sync on either device. I can go through the motions (password, acknowledgments, etc.), but the slider switch pops right back into the active position in less than a second after the last dialog box. Subsequent attempts to turn it off result in the same. I've reset network settings, signed in and out of iCloud, and rebuilt my iPhone (erase all data and settings, restore from iCloud or MBP local backup, and even once without restoring) FIVE times in the past 48 hours, two on my own and thrice while working with Apple Support last night. Every time I sign into iCloud, the Keychain sync is already set to the on position, and I can not turn it off. There doesn't appear to be a way to disable Keychain sync through the iCloud web interface.

It seems this is caused by a corrupt Keychain or Keychain item.

I can use the Keychain as expected. Login information for all of my apps open and web page text fields are populated when they are supposed to be.

I really don't want to start over with a new Keychain, but at this point I'm almost willing to do so, but I can't even turn off Keychain sync to start a new Keychain.

Keychain repair was removed from MacOS a long time ago. What are we supposed to do now? Exports don't seem to work for passwords, so I can't make a backup. What am I supposed to do? I'm stuck with a nearly useless phone until this can be resolved.

After disabling Keychain, you obviously cannot sync passwords between devices anymore. Here's a workaround that I found useful to still be able to auto fill passwords in various apps.

In iOS 14.5, Apple introduced a way to autofill passwords from additional apps, like Chrome. If you already keep your passwords in Chrome, go to Settings -> Passwords -> AutoFill Passwords and select Chrome in addition to Keychain. Safari doesn't appear in that list because it stores its passwords in Keychain. It works like a charm!

I,m from Germany. Same hier under cellular/system service/security services my cellular data volume is burned away. In may my 15 GB in the first 13 days. Try nearly every know solution, even reset my iPhone and pull back my data from backup. Nothing helps. After may 13th, now it burned normal 3G with less volume. Today security service (after reset on 14th may) show 65MB data consumtion.

I too have been using secure notes for many years, with included image files. Has never been a problem. What was the solution for me, I have described here in (in German language).

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

Look again in Settings. If it uses data you can turn it on and off.