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High iOS 6 Data Usage? Turn off iCloud,

For those of you with unexplained excessive data usage, I've pinpointed the problem to a bug in iCloud. Unfortunately, turning off individual iCloud services will not solve the problem, you'll have to delete the iCloud account from the phone.


Here's a video demonstrating the problem.


I hope this helps. If it solves your data usage problem, be sure to report it to Apple and spread the word.

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Oct 3, 2012 5:57 PM

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146 replies

Oct 4, 2012 10:51 AM in response to jcenters

Thank you so much. I had exactly same problem that icould was sucking up all the 3g data.

I haven't been able to figure out what kind of app was draining my 3g data until I visit a service center.


All I want to say is as you pointed out, icloud is not safe on IOS6 even though you have finished all the syncs. For me, icloud took approximately 10kb of 3g data in 1 sec. That is seriously painful.


Apple must fix this bug as soon as possible because I personally double paid for my 3g data plan in Sep compared with which I have been paying for last 6 months. It is not cool.


Anyway, thanks again.

Oct 4, 2012 4:23 PM in response to jcenters

This is a great find, but it goes deeper. It also draws cell data while connected to WiFi. I'm not in a position to kill my icloud account to test it, but believe me, I want to. I also believe that Apple will get it right, but probably not til the end of the month. I already got AT&T to promise a credit when I inevitably go over my limit.

Oct 5, 2012 3:38 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Glad to hear I've helped some of you guys with your data usage. That's why I went to all the trouble. 🙂


When I took the video, the phone had been wiped clean a couple of days before, all apps were uninstalled, iMessage was turned off, email accounts had been deleted, and every setting that could use data was turned off. I eliminated every variable except for iCloud being enabled. Overall, I spent about a week of testing before coming to the result seen in the video.

Oct 9, 2012 2:27 PM in response to jcenters

Thanks for posting this - I watched your video and found my phone doing exactly what you show, leaking data at 2-3 kb per second, even with all of iCloud turned off. I deleted my iCloud and now after 5 minutes I've used 15kb of data. So I still have a leak, but not nearly as bad of one. I hope Apple fixes this soon - I want to use the iCloud features but with three phones sharing 1GB of data I need to know its fixed before I do.

Oct 10, 2012 8:30 AM in response to jcenters

I'm getting exactly the symptoms you describe on both my iPad and iPhone. Or at least I was until I deleted my account. Literally nothing else would stop the trickle of data - even turning off all the services. And data is expensive in South Africa so I'm $60 out of pocket on my most recent phone bill (double what it normally costs me) - yay.


A lot of South Africans are experiencing the same thing. Look at the tweets related to my blog post on the issue: http://alistairfairweather.com/warning-all-iphone-and-ipad-owners-ios6-and-i

High iOS 6 Data Usage? Turn off iCloud,

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