Confusing Push Notifications Cellular Data Usage When On Wifi

Last year, I had no issues having just a 100 MB monthly plan, as I only use my phone for just texting minimally. My monthly usage was usually around 30 MB per month with occasional spikes to 60 MB. I also never experienced cellular usage when on my home Wifi (as I work from home).

Now since the start of this year, Push Notification cellular usage on my home wifi has skyrocketed so much that it would have exceeded my monthly 100 MB limit, if I had left it turned on. So I started turning off my cellular when at home because of this. But when I turned on my cellular to go out for an hour or two, I started seeing massive Documents & Sync cellular usage as well, even though iCloud syncing is turned off. And yes Wifi assist was turned off as well.

So the settings I’m using to reduce cellular usage appear to be not working at all since I’m getting cellular usage when on Wifi and document syncing when just on cellular.

I’ve since completely reinstalled iOS and Push Notification cellular usage is now lower but not as low as it was. So far I’m able to keep my cellular on at least, even when on my home wifi.

But the question still remains.

Why is my Phone using cellular data when on my home wifi?

Your question of "how much data is it using" makes it sound like it’s normal for a phone to use some minimal cellular data on a wifi. By why? This makes no sense. Why isn’t it using the Wifi for push notifications?

BTW for those seriously interested in trying to find a solution to this issue, it appears I may have stumbled across one, at least it appears to be working so far. Previously you’ll note that I tried to reset my Network Settings and that didn’t do anything. So I reinstalled iOS and that seemed to reduce daily usage enough that I could leave my cellular data on, even at home.

A couple of days ago, I decided to "forget" my current Wifi network connection which is using my 5GHz band on an Apple Airport Extreme and switched to the 2.5GHz band instead on my Internet Providers router. In doing so, I’ve noticed a dramatic reduction in daily cellular usage while connected to this Wifi at home.

Previously I was seeing anywhere from 2-4MB/day of cellular data usage at home when connected to my Wifi (so 60-120MB/month). I’m now seeing only 0.05MB/day which is a massive drop in usage.

I’m going to test this for a week or so further to see if it remains stable at this extremely low usage. I’m then going to switch back to my 5GHz band and see if it peaks to the previous high usage or not.

So far, I’m not sure if it’s switching to the lower network band or just switching to a fresh network connection that’s causing the reduction and apparent fix. If I switch back to the higher band later though and it maintains the same extremely low usage then I’ll know it’s just wiping or forgetting the network settings and connecting again that’s resolved the problem.

I contacted Apple Support by Phone. The first person couldn't assist me, so they elevated me to another person who I had to describe all my issues all over again. That person, after getting as much info about my problem, basically said they couldn't help me much because I was using an outdated iOS (version 12 for the iPhone 5s). So she just suggested restoring the device (which I already did) and contacting my cellular provider to see if they might have a solution.

While I get that, in the sense that the phone is so old it effectively has an "End of Life" classification on it (even though it still works great). What I do not get though is that the phone was working great last year, yet it appears a recent iOS 12 update caused it to start malfunctioning in this way. So if you're not going to provide support for problems that originate from updates, don't provide the update because your messing up someone's device you no longer provide adequate support for.

To avoid this problem in future, when I'm using my next older "End of Life" iPhone and it's working completely fine (since that's all I need for basic texting), I will most definitely be turning off Automatic Updates to avoid this problem occurring again.

I was wondering when a "you just don't have enough mobile data" person would show up. To help you understand the issue here, let me provide a quote from the page you linked.

To use Apple Push Notification Service (APNs), your macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS devices need a persistent connection to Apple's servers over Ethernet, cellular data (if capable), or Wi-Fi.

Obviously Push Notifications on an iPhone use Mobile Data. That's not the issue. The issue is my iPhone using Mobile Data for Push Notifications while it's connected to my home Wifi. That is what makes no sense whatsoever. In effect, 95% or more of my Push Notification Mobile Data usage has occurred when connected to my home Wifi. And if this was resolved, my actually monthly mobile usage, when not on my home Wifi, would probably be only 10MB/month, thus way below the "small allowance" of my carrier (which I actively chose because that's all I've need for years).

So the amount utilized is irrelevant. It's that it is occurring when Push Notifications should be using my Wifi connection instead. That's the issue. I mean if you were at home watching a bunch of Netflix shows on your iPhone and your 10GB plan got exceeded because you found out your iPhone was still using your Mobile Data when connected to your home Wifi, I'm sure you'd be pretty upset as well.

That's comparatively what's happening with me. Pushing Notifications, while I'm at home on my Wifi, should be using my Internet home provider not my cellular provider.

> Funny that you only choose to read some parts only.

No, I actually read everything by everyone. You apparently are the one only reading parts, otherwise you would have noticed what I wrote in my original post.

> PS. I heard about a bug or something relating to your iPhone losing connection to your Wifi at home but I can leave the screen on for hours and it will still using up cellular data via push notifications, even though it's still connected to my wifi (and showing the symbol that it is).

I mean stop and think about this for one second. If what I’m experiencing is completely normal as you say it is, Apple Support would have simply stated that from the start of my discussion with them (ie "This is part of normal 'system services' operation"). They didn’t find it normal though which is why they asked me as much info as possible about it to try to figure out what was going wrong.

Furthermore, your belief that it is "normal" also goes against the repeated years of use where I normally only had 15-30 MB of usage per month (with peaks to 60MB when using apps beyond just texting). Or perhaps you believe it’s "normal" for Apple to suddenly introduce a "feature" in iOS that would more than quadruple a person’s cellular usage when they’re not even using their device.

And there’s no point in trying to get you to see rational logic instead of your blind belief that you’re just right.

As I’ve reiterated numerous times but will do one last time to recap. Of course if you have cellular data turned on, you’d expect cellular usage. If I’m away from home, I do see cellular usage and it’s minimal, as I’ve already stated, like only 10-15MB/month. I have zero issue with that. It’s an expected norm.

My issue is dramatic cellular usage when I’m at home connected to my Wifi...which has never happened before in the many years of using my device.

Your response that it’s "normal" for an iPhone to lose Wifi and use cellular data at home is utter garbage. That is not normal. That’s abnormal. Just search these forums for numerous people trying to find a fix for this same very issue of their Wifi disconnecting and using their cellular instead while at home. It’s a prevalent issue.

Again you just want to be Mr. Right and will call abnormal issues "normal" just to do so.

BTW I checked the Settings > About area of my phone and no updates are available for my cellular provider.