Our family does not use Apple Music. We subscribe to a differnet service. All of a sudden my daughter has used 27GB of data on Apple Music and she does not use the app. This has caused overages. I want this refunded. How do I fix this?
iPhone X
I have resolved this through ATT and they refunded the data overages. I was on an older plan that I've now updated. Most plans now are unlimited data so what I'm about to say may not matter much.
Apple takes great pride in their walled app store to make sure apps don't infringe on privacy or are of very low quality. But it seems apps can be downloaded with a default turned on to use data. For some apps like a file sharing app, or photo sharing which will use a lot of data, this can be very problematic. It almost gaurantees a windfall for the service provider.
Obviously it would be better to realize that the app is not transfering data intensive files due to data being turned off, than to suddenly find out that data overages have incurred large charges because a recently downloaded app defaults to using data. No one should be expected to check every app to turn off data without a notice. Apple provides this for sharing a location. It should be the same for accessing data vs. wi-fi.
Thankfully, ATT took care of this so I don't have to investigate in further.
Hello MidwestMacMan,
Apple Support Communities is a great place for help, and we know how important it is to determine why Music is using the amount of data it is. Has your daughter purchased any songs from iTunes, or is she subscribed to iTunes Match? If so, there’s a possibility the songs may be streamed which can contribute to the data usage you’re seeing from the Music application. You can find more information about iTunes Match in the following article.
If the songs were purchased from iTunes, you can find the step for downloading those songs so they won’t contribute to the data usage in the following article.
In reference to a refund you would want to contact Apple directly. You can find their contact information using the following links.
Take care!
Our apologies for any confusion MidwestMacMan,
Was any music that’s not downloaded on the device being played at that time? If so, that can contribute to the data usage. Downloading the songs to the device while connected to Wi-Fi can prevent data usage at the time of download, and prevent future dat usage when playing music.
With the data usage itself were you able to identify Music as the app using the data in Settings > Cellular (Mobile Data), or noticing overall usage on the billing statement? Since noticing this usage have you verified iOS is updated? If not, updating is a great step for reaching a resolution. You can find the steps for updating in the following article.
Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
If the iPhone was connected to a Wi-Fi network there’s also the possibility that Wi-Fi Assist was enabled. When this setting is enabled the iPhone will automatically connect and use cellular data over Wi-Fi when there’s weak Wi-Fi signal. This can be turned off in Settings > Cellular (Mobile Data), then scroll down and tap Wi-Fi Assist.
More information about cellular data usage and Wi-Fi Assist can be found int he following articles.
Use cellular data on your iPhone or iPad
If you continue to have issues after updating and turning off Wi-Fi Assist. The next step would be to contact Apple using the Get Support link previously provided.
Have a great weekend!
My daughter was taking a nap. Not even using her phone. In that short time, the data usage on her phone spiked to a crazy level. It had nothing to do with her downloading purchased music.
Sudden Large Data Usage
