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why can't I turn off cellular data for some apps

Greetings,

Since upgrading to IOS 7 on my Iphone 4S, I find that it has reset my cellular data settings.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 9, 2013 8:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 23, 2017 4:35 PM

I finally figured out how to turn on and off cellular data services on my ipad mini 4. First, Setting - General - restriction- enter your restriction code - found "ALLOW CHANGES" part - cellular data use - turn on. Now you back to setting and click cellular data, you will find all apps you are able to turn on or off individually to use cellular data.

I guess the whole problem was caused by the cellular data services company - In my case this is T-mobile. When I insert sim card to my ipad mini 4, it stated updating cellular services setting. I guess this is where the setting was changed in restriction part to turn off cellular data change. I am glad I finally figured out. Hope this helps.

77 replies

Jan 23, 2014 8:36 AM in response to Nutellinah

I had the same problem -- cellular data for some apps being turned on spontaneously (against my wishes) -- while running iOS 7.0.4 on an iPhone 4S. I've followed several threads here about the issue. One solution,posted in the last couple of days, requires jailbreaking. I prefer not to jailbreak, so that limits options. One could wait for 7.1, in hopes that it will be fixed by Apple. I decided to go to an Apple Store, and see what they could do. After two hours of effort, trying various options etc., one (and only one) solution seemed to work. That was: first, do a full restore (to factory defaults, with fresh install of the iOS and firmware), but then ALSO -- and this second step was crucial -- set up the iPhone as a NEW phone, NOT a restore from backup. Anytime we tried to use an existing backup, even after a full iOS/firmware reinstallation, the problem returned. When we set up as a NEW phone, though, the problem disappeared. The Genius concluded that my backup had, somehow, gotten corrupted -- he said this was rare, although Support threads like the present one suggest it's not all that strange at the moment. Anyway, by setting it up as a new phone, I had to rebuild all my app settings etc. from scratch, which was a hassle. But on the positive side, the problem seems -- touch wood -- well and truly gone. It has been a couple of weeks since then, and signs are good. My cellular data settings seem to be stable -- i.e., no app has managed to turn its data access on without my knowledge.

Jan 23, 2014 8:39 AM in response to dnmich

PS. In retrospect, before doing this wipe-and-restore as a new phone, I should have paid more attention to the settings of apps that can be told to back up all their internal data to the web, to Dropbox, to Google Docs, to a proprietary cloud server, etc., as that would have minimized the time spent in re-establishing my setup.

Jan 23, 2014 8:59 AM in response to dnmich

dnmich wrote:


The Genius concluded that my backup had, somehow, gotten corrupted -- he said this was rare, although Support threads like the present one suggest it's not all that strange at the moment.

Rare is relative. There are almost a billion iOS devices currently in use. Among those, some will have a problem (any problem, not just this one). The ones that have a problem will post a message, and others with the problem will see the post and respond, or start their own message thread. The ones that don't have the problem probably won't even visit the forum. So just by reading reported problems you can get a skewed vision of how widespread a problem actually is.


There was a real problem that affected less than 1% of all iPhones a year ago. The thread got almost 3 million views and 13,000 replies before it was locked (it wasn't locked because of the content, but because it was overloading the Jive servers that run the ASC).


I'm not saying the problem isn't real; just that seeing reports of it does not prove that it isn't rare.

Jan 23, 2014 9:16 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I agree; I wasn't really trying to characterize the accuracy of the Genius' statement, nor to suggest that our particular problem -- cellular data turn-ons in iOS 7.0.4, especially but not exclusively involving the iPhone 4s -- is hugely common. I agree with you about that. Rather, I was narrating my conversation with the Genius -- who was, by the way, terrific, spending lots of time with me and talking through the issues in great detail -- as part of my experience, merely to let others know what they might hear if they choose to follow my path (of NOT waiting for 7.1, but rather going to an Apple Store).


The Genius who helped me said that (in his experience) backups can become corrupted, but that (again in his experience) this had been a rare thing. I wasn't the first he had seen, but my sense was he could number the cases on the fingers of one hand. Neither he nor his colleagues had heard previously about the specific problem being discussed on this support thread. Of course there are a zillion such threads in play, and of course it wasn't a big surprise that he didn't know about this one. The fact that it seems to be happening mostly on the 4s also means it is less likely to be visible to Apple central. And yes, you are correct, insofar as people with problems will be the ones to show up on this thread, and they will be only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of Apple users out there.


Nevertheless, to state the obvious, this particular problem (however rare or common) is indeed real. By posting, what I wanted to relate was one possible avenue to achieve a solution. It's not a perfect one, obviously, given the hassles of rebuilding from scratch; but it worked for me.

Jan 23, 2014 7:51 PM in response to ZicoJoksic

FIX!!!!!


FIX FOR DATA TURNING BACK ON!!


This problem has been KILLING my battery so I tried a bunch of things.


Problem: iOS 7.04 turning off data and it turns right back on moments later. ALSO, it won't let you turn off LTE/4G (turns back on also)


SOLUTION:

1.Settings--- Cellular--- SLIDE CELLULAR DATA OFF-- (or LTE/4G -whichever problem you're targeting)


2. QUICKLY TURN ON AIRPLANE MODE--- WAIT IN AIRPLANE MODE AT LEAST 10-15 seconds (maybe less).


3. Turn OFF Airplane mode and your DATA or LTE/4G will REMAIN OFF until you turn it back on.


4. Repeat process every time you need it.


You're all welcome, I'm glad I could finally contribute to the community.



Cheers


S.E

Feb 8, 2014 11:21 PM in response to AjinkyaD93

Yeah this bug has to be removed ASAP... I hope in the iOS 7.1 beta 5 update they've fixed it.

And also since I had my iPhone 5s, it randomly resprings, like some kind of a blue screen when it runs out of memory. I've noticed friends who have older devices running iOS 7 who also have the same problem. It would respring even more frequently than it happens to me, so I hope they'll fix that too because it can't be a hardware problem.

Feb 19, 2014 9:53 AM in response to johnfromchinalake

Almost 3months passed and there's no fix for this issue.


I already restored my iPhone for about 3times and didn't backup anything from iCloud or PC and this issue comes back.
Tried all tips and suggestions and i still cant turn off d*mn celular data off for some apps.

I already reported this to apple devs and I didn't get ANY **** RESPONSE !


😠

why can't I turn off cellular data for some apps

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