Personal hotspot usage stats incorrect (please hear me out)

I've been travelling May/June 2024 using both a Norwegian SIM and my eSIM with Vodafone from Australia.

I was utterly horrified to see the total hit something like 52GB on hotspot "Other Devices".

Yesterday I reset stats and within 21 hrs they claimed 8.70GB on Personal Hotspot

I just did a test this morning - reset statistics again and it clocked 742MB in TEN MINUTES!

This total for Personal Hotspot is also included in the Current Period and Current Period Roaming counts.

However, as reported by others, these figures are not matched by my provider so I can relax. These figures are utterly nonsensical. They don't even correspond to the likely total data usage under other Wifi of the device using my hotspot.

iOS 17.3.1 (delaying upgrades until I get home).

Wish I'd known this before spending another $60 on topping up my Norwegian SIM I feared was running out of data.

It sounds like an unusual situation with your iPhone showing significantly higher hotspot usage compared to what your carrier is reporting. Here are a few potential explanations and steps you could consider:

1. iOS Reporting Error: Sometimes, there can be glitches or errors in the way iOS records data usage. It might be worthwhile to restart your iPhone and see if the data reporting normalizes.
2. App Background Data Usage: Some apps might use data in the background without your active knowledge. Check your apps to see if any are consuming more data than expected in the background.
3. Software Update or Reset: If the issue persists, consider updating your iPhone to the latest iOS version or performing a reset (making sure to back up your data first).
4. Usage by Other Devices: Ensure that no other unauthorized devices are connected to your hotspot without your knowledge, which could be consuming data.
5. Network Settings Reset: Try resetting your iPhone's network settings. This can sometimes resolve connectivity or data reporting issues.
6. Contact Apple Support: If the problem persists and seems to be a system-level issue, reaching out to Apple Support might provide more tailored and specific assistance.

It's encouraging that your carrier's data usage stats align more closely with your actual usage. However, if your iPhone continues to report significantly higher hotspot usage, further troubleshooting or contacting Apple Support directly might be the best course of action.

I was experiencing the same issue. The issue happened when I installed my eSIM for traveling.

reset stats did not resolved the problem. It was still reflecting tons of GB under personal hotspot.

but I tried another way. I power off and on my phone. And it works.

do note that on one point. My eSIM comes with sim pin. So if yours have sim pin, find ur sim PIN number before power on and off ur phone.

my model is iPhone 14 Pro Max.

hopes it can solve ur issue

Yeah or you could try resetting the phone and turning off and on your hotspot from cell company side. What I’ve gathered is that apple is either reading the usage wrongs or the cell company is sending false or glitched information, it’s probably apple though. Again I advise resetting the phone or Maby even settings. (If you look up “reset it settings” you can chose what to reset)

Hi! Any news on that? I found out when I transfer Data (full backup) from my iPhone (iP14, IOS 17.2.1) to my Windows Pc it counts on hotspot usage (other devices).

Can confirm this appears to be a bug. I'm at the cottage, where my only internet comes from tethering to my phone, so I monitor my usage via the stats screen. It's currently showing I've used 40+ GB on the personal hotspot when my carrier app shows I've used 5GB total data. So now I need to monitor via the carrier app instead, which is less useful and less convenient. Definitely not an issue with the carrier app's reporting--from experience, I know the 5GB usage is correct for what I've been doing.

Definitely an iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 BUG. On tethering, my notebook device name shows correct data usage (about 200MB+ for 20m zoom session) but “Other devices” shows 15GB. Happens every time i do a hotspot with either my iPhone 15 Pro or iPad Mini 6. whatever other solutions suggested here do NOT work. A bug is a bug. Something always seems to break with every .x iOS iteration.

Although this is very annoying, you don’t need to worry, as the value isn’t real, it’s just a number perpetually increasing. I recently was in a very limited data plan, the personal hotspot value went thru the roof but I never reached my quota.

Are you referring to “Personal Hotspot” as shown here under Settings > Cellular?

If so, what do you see when you press the “>” at the right of that row?

This is driving me insane too. I do frequently use the tethering feature to work on my laptop, but I had never seen the amount the iPhone is reporting after my iOS 17 upgrade. I just ended February with 192GB reported use, while my carrier app shows only around 20GB used. I did notice that the “other devices” usage seems to come from apple CarPlay, which I didn’t have previous to November 2023 (had an older car that I recently traded in for a model that comes with it). So after I take a trip I check the usage, and sure enough, after an hour in the car, with a distance of about 20 miles driven, the usage in the “other devices” category showed 1.92GB used. Carrier shows 20MB consumed. Apple, please fix this!!!

yup, BUG is still thriving in iOS 17.4.1. Tested by tethering and downloading 60kb file to my notebook and then disconnecting iPhone hotspot. Data usage showed 1.8GB. I can only assume not many users use the hotspot for Apple to give a ****.

I do know that “Sim cloning” is a real thing. The phones with the same sim number will receive the same calls and I am pretty sure if they can receive calls on both then data network would be available to both. I know my data went from average 100gb a month then I had this problem described that brings us to this forum to almost 300gb for a month until I switched out my SIM card for another. That fixed problem for me

Igna1980 wrote:

Same issue here! Good thing my carried does have the correct amount I have used. I have 2G+ more than what my carrier is reporting just by using my hotspot to connect my laptop and exclusively using it to take a Teams call for about an hour. Apple FIX THIS please!

Apple Support is not here. We are just users like yourself so Apple is not seeing your demand to FIX THIS.

Official Apple Support

Open a ticket

This has also started happening to me too. The data counter on my iPhone shows much more data consumed than Verizon reports (on the order of 6GB vs 1GB). It doesn’t make any difference in billing but it’s definitely a bug. Running iPhone 14 Pro with latest iOS version.