Ios6 causing excessive data usage?

My son was given an ipad mini for Xmas, when instantaneously our wifi usage went through the roof. It was so out of context whilst not changing usage patterns that we thought we were being hacked by our neighbours. Eventually we accepted that using IOS 6 on this device for wifi only data input was a waste of time.

Stupidly I bought an ipad mini myself thinking that problems would have been solved by now. But no, usage has skyrocketed. Using the app My Data Manager I was astonished to see 1.33 GB of usage in a one hour period while I was looking at news sites and checking my emails. No videos, no high usage sites. Icloud documents and data is off and it is a wifi only device.

Has anyone solved this stupid problem yet??

This is a software issue between Att and Apple, Verizon had a similar issue but Apple fixed it with that carrier. Apple tried to tell me it was a "hardware" issue and tried to convince me to take a "refurbished" phone, while mine was only a few months old. What I found, actually my daughter, turn off the I messaging; that uses a ton of data, you don't need it on, but if it is on, when you send text msgs, it will run off your imessaging. I keep ICloud and Imessaging off and I have used any data at all. When my contract expires, Att will lose me after many, many years. Good Luck!!

Completely agree that this is an Apple/AT&T issue trying to get more money out of us.

After dealing with this for months and worrying about data overage charges, we just switched to a mobile data share plan. This has 'elimnated' the isse since we have 10GB to share between our 5 devices. 🙂

I would NEVER have agreed to switch, but when I found out the cost was nearly identical to what we were paying for our 200MB plans per line, the choice was a 'no brainer'.

Still irritated with Apple/AT&T, but at least we no longer have to worry about it... 🙂

Apple has nothing to do with your AT&T data plan. Apple doesn't receive any money from AT&T data plans.

Not to debate you, but Apple has far more than 'nothing to do' with my data plan. If they write a buggy OS and consume more data, you don't see how that impacts my data plan?

Now, Apple doesn't directly get paid for data plans, but there's no doubt that they have a mutually beneficial contract where increased sales (devices or plans) benefits both companies. Business 101...

To be clear - if you review my post, I specifically mentioned both Apple AND AT&T as the accountable parties to fix this issue. I didn't singularly blame either one.

I'm a big supporter of both Apple and AT&T, but disappointed in their collective management of this issue.

You implied that this was intentional when you said: "this is an Apple/AT&T issue trying to get more money out of us."

If that was not your intent, then I apologize. However, assuming that it's a 'buggy' OS causing the issue is inaccurate. If the OS was buggy, then everyone using the OS would have the problem, instead of only a small percentage of people.

Excessive data usage is almost always a hardware issue, not a software issue. And from what I've seen, Apple is aware of the hardware issue and working to fix it, even going so far in some situations to replace devices that are out of warranty, without charging the normal OOW fee.

Apple doesn't need to 'make money' with an intentionally disruptive business practice.

I was having this problem originally when I got the new iPhone 5 and I found a fix after trying a bunch of different suggestions that have floating around on different forums (turning off the cloud, during off cell data when i was on wifi, backing up and doing a hard reset etc.) I brought my phone into the store, and the tech removed the original software off of my phone and installed I completely fresh version. It won't work just to do a hard reset and reinstall through iTunes. This has to be done in the story by an Apple tech. Once he installed the new software, he told me NOT to restore my phone on itunes, which will just put the old glitch back on. You can, however, put back on the old aps you have bought without having to purchase them again or worry about reintroducing the glitch. Since he did that, my data usage has returned to normal levels. I still notice that my phone uses trace amounts of data while I'm on wifi, but my data usage has still been a little over half of my 1 GB plan each month. I hope this works for others who are having the same problem. Good luck!

Restoring via iTunes should put a 'fresh' copy of the iOS on the device. There's nothing special about the Apple store computers or iTunes or the tech.

When he told you not to restore the phone via iTunes, he meant restore from the backup. Restoring as new (or from a backup orior to the problem), at home, on your own computer, should solve the issue, so long as you have the most current version of iTunes on your computer, and have no other issues on your computer.

All i know is when I did a hard reset and restored from back up on a brand new mac mini with the most current version of iTunes (and did not restore from back up). It didn't work. When he stripped out the software and reinstalled it at the store, it did. He said himself that it is a different process. Anyway, I've been reading for months about users who tried a hard reset with no luck, and I was one of them. This was the first and ony thing that worked for me. For what it's worth.

All that really matters is that your device is working. I am unfamiliar with an 'alternate', Apple Store-only method of putting iOS on an iPhone, but I'll allow for that possibility.

AT&T is not the only carrier, having this issue. If you knew anything about deductive logic, or isolation troubleshooting, you would have chosen your words differently. Since all 4 major American Carriers are having the issue, you have to look at the common denominator: iPhone.

Now, since the 3GS, 4, 4s, and the 5 are having the problem, you then have to look at the common factor of those 4 devices: iOS 6.1.3. All of them can run the latest software. iOS 6.1.4 only corrects software comparability, with the speaker on the iPhone 5.

The software, that all the major carriers use, for their billing system is identical, made by the same company. So to say it is any of the carriers' fault, would lead one to believe that all devices offered by a said carrier would have the same issue. However, my Windows Phone has no issues with charging cellular data, when I am connected to Wi-Fi.

The issue stems from iOS 6.0.1. There was a switch titled, "Wi-Fi + Cellular", which gave the user the capability to disable cellular or enable it, when the phone was screen locked and asleep. That switch is no longer available, and the wi-fi chip is disabled during sleep mode, to reduce battery drain.

Disable your location services, as well. iCloud, Siri, and many factors of the iOS are running your location. You van configure the settings, under Settings>Privacy>Location Services.

iOS 7 will be here soon. I have got to preview the beta, and I am hopeful, that the issue should be resolved. Until that time, stop pointing fingers, at your carrier, and start Google searching the issue. Apple has contracts with some of the carriers, that offer the iPhone.

Next time you wish to make accusations, have evidence to back your claim. Otherwise, your post will be shot down fast

The "special" reset, you are referring to, is commonly called "DFU" mode. Users should never use this mode, and should only be handled by properly trained repair personell, I.e. Apple Repair Technicians. DFU stand for Device Firmware Update mode.

DFU can vkid your warranty on the device. Period! Don't do it.

If you are having issue with your device, 95% of them can be solved by backing the phone up to iTunes and forcing standard "Recovery Mode". An average user, of a mobile device should not attempt and complex modifcation to the firmware, as it does violate the End User License Agreement between you and Apple. Period!

If "Recovery Mode" has not resolved your issue, schedule an appointment, for repair at an Apple Store, or call their tech support team and see about replacement devices.

I agree with iOS Defender's logic and also with his comments about posts being shot down fast. A few months ago I speculated about the fact that this data transfer problem appeared at roughly the same time as the reported start date of the US government's PRISM surveillance program, and that it might be related to this issue since both Apple's and US Government's public statements do not exclude the possibility of user's data being captured through software mechanisms on their devices. That post was deleted by Apple. Perhaps this one will also.

Anyway, back to the topic: I live outside the US, therefore latencies and bandwidth costs caused by data transfers of this kind are both higher; my iPhones often exhibit slowdowns and lockups when on EDGE or 3G that seem consistent with waiting for connections, and I can see data transfers happening for no apparent reason. Among other things, I have invoked DFU mode and reinstalled everything, using the latest version of the iOS and iTunes, and the problem persists. I am now using an iPhone 5 but I remember experiencing this problem on my iPhone 4 when upgrading to iOS 6. Unfortunately there is no way of downgrading an iPhone 5 to iOS 5, which would seem to be the only sure way of getting rid of these mysterious data transfers.

As an update, on controlling the data leaks. Removing iCloud is not always sufficient. You may need to back your phone up to iTunes first. Then remove iCloud, which of course removes the synchronized content. Then do a "recovery mode" reset. Setup the phone as a new device, and then restore it from your backup.

Stuck emails, hanging iCloud restores are also causing this as well.

Restoring from an iOS backup would not bring a glitch back onto phone, unless you had an app causing the excessive data usage. Restoring from backup has no effect on the iOS. The bugs are lying in the iOS, and after reading up on the PRISM surveillance, now I think I understand why everyone's phones are showing "sent" data, instead of received data, and that is why only some subscribers would be affected. I have been trying to piece together the inconsistency, of affected users. If there is some connection, we will never be officially informed of it, but I wouldn't be surprised. Once again, lets take a look at the number of iOS devices, compared to other OS devices on the market.