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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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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

Nov 27, 2014 2:55 PM in response to al motasem

Same here. It is quite frustrating to be told you have to turn on Cellular data for an app and it's already on. OR When I'm using Wi-Fi and it tells me I have to have cellular data turned ON. Huh? Crazy. Glad it's not just me. I have reset the phone to factory settings, as a new phone, and even skipped the backup and put all my contacts and apps from scratch. Still don't work.

Feb 15, 2015 5:05 AM in response to johnfromchinalake

I had exactly this problem. Unable to turn off data to certain apps. I'm not sure what caused it, and I tried many of the suggestions here, including removing lots of apps, and updating the OS (which I had been avoiding for battery life reasons), restarting many times. None of these approaches changed anything. Before the problem appeared I had come to another country and changed my sim card, and suddenly it occurred to me this might have been a problem with the new sim card. So I removed my Toggle travel sim card and I put in my old Verizon sim card. With the Verizon card there was no problem turning off data to apps. And, surprisingly, when I returned to my "travel" sim card, this particular problem was no longer in evidence.

May 19, 2015 3:52 PM in response to johnfromchinalake

A few years has gone by, and after few IOS updates, this problem still exist for my iphone 5S with ios 8.3, at least for me anyways. I have done everything in the book, and some apps such as skype turns it's cellular data on by itself almost immediately after I turn it off. I have done factory reset, both through itunes and through the phone itself, and nothing, I have spoke to apple people and all they tell me is to do the same things I have done already. If this was one of those $50 phones i would have just drove over it with my truck, but for an expensive phone like this, it really ****** me off that those apple guys couldn't care less if the problem ever gets resolved. **** at one point one of the apple people told me to just buy new phone. I swear only if I could have reached through the phone and grab his throat.

May 24, 2015 1:58 PM in response to ll_jesse_ll

I too have this problem and am looking for a solution. Problem is on iPhone 4s IOS 8.3

goto Setting->Cellular

shut off App Store

exit to Settings

goto Setting->Cellular

... and behold ... App Store is ON


This managed to download a few GIG in less then a day ... I usually use less then 100Meg in a month

APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS

May 25, 2015 6:52 PM in response to KennethPlas

The solution seems to be to do a hard reset (Settings->General->Reset->Erase All Content and Settings) and setup as a NEW phone.

You can't restore the backup without restoring the problem ...


I suspect that when an IOS update has changed where some cellular on/off switch is located ... it screws up that switch ... just a guess

Anyway, I setup as a NEW phone and am willing to deal with any lost data that can't be restored ... by re-typing it in OR getting it from the cloud.


A pain I know ... But hope this helps someone


Apple really needs to do more testing on these updates because it S _ _ Ks!!!, I mean its hard on people, when they find out that their setting have changed behind their back by getting a $100+ data bill from their carrier!!!!

Aug 14, 2015 8:54 PM in response to johnfromchinalake

Try this, community: not a reseting-or-deleting-all-your-data solution.


I have a solution that worked on iOS 8.3, certain apps on the phone (in my case Facebook, Google Hangouts, Viber and Microsoft Smartglass) just couldn't get with cellular data off, as soon as i returned to the Cellullar Data menu i found those speciffic apps kept running the option ON, so i decided to reinstall those four apps but i didn`t want to update, so:


>Delete all the speciffic apps that are having trouble with not turning off cellular (in my case four apps) > Connect your Phone to computer and > Go to iTunes > Turn OFF any service that connects you to internet on both Computer and Phone so the app cant update (i use mac) > Go to your phone menu on iTunes > On iTunes go to Applications > Search the apps that keep running Cellular Data (if you have trouble with all of them, then delete all of them) and uninstall from the phone > Reinstall from iTunes because iTunes saves the applications you have installed on your phones [the button says "will install" or something like that] > Click the Apply changes button (on iTunes) > Verify that in your phone the apps are installing > Once installed if this option worked for you, you will notice that cellular data options will return to normal, and will not keep the button always ON.


I`m glad if this works, for you, thanks for reading and mark this solution if worked. Sorry for my english, i speak spanish.

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

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