Unexpected background downloading after updating to 7.1

Question

Level 1

96 points

Unexpected background downloading after updating to 7.1

After updating to iOS 7.1 I have noticed that my iPhone 5 is downloading several hundred MB in the background when connected to wi-fi. What is also unusual is that it only seems to do this downloading when the iPhone is connected, via cable, to my Mac OS 10.9.2 computer. This is a problem for me as I have limited downloads available. I also noticed that my iPhone 4S did the same thing, but it did seem to eventually stop. I have had to turn off wi-fi on my iPhone 5 now, because I have no more data available.

I have checked that the following are all off:

Personal Hotspot
iCloud backup
iTunes & App Store > Automatic downloads

Background App Refresh is on, and turning it off didn't make any difference.

iTunes indicates that the amount of free space has reduced by several hundred MB, but I am not sure exactly where that space was used.

I imagine that if others have experienced this issue, they may not have noticed it as they routinely would not monitor their data usage as closely as I do.

Any insights appreciated.

Thanks.

iPhone 5, iOS 7.1, iPhone 4S too

Posted on Mar 11, 2014 1:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Madam Author

Level 1

96 points

Mar 11, 2014 1:37 AM in response to Madam

I have later notice that iTunes indicates the "other" data is growing. I have considered doing a restore, however given that the 4S did the same thing I am not sure that this will fix the problem.

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Answer 2

Mar 11, 2014 1:46 PM in response to Madam

I noticed the same thing after the update my devices also did the same thing,. On iPhone 5 and iPad 3 and iPhone 4. I checked everything as well I don't know why it takes so much data afterwords.

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Answer 3

Mar 11, 2014 1:49 PM in response to Reefsta80

It eventually stops but then if I disconnect from the internet and then reconnect minutes later it starts downloading again and doesn't stop until a few minutes have gone by.

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Answer 4

Madam Author

Level 1

96 points

Mar 11, 2014 1:57 PM in response to Reefsta80

Thank you. It is useful to know that it is not only me. I have determined something else since I wrote the orginal post. The downloads only happen when the iPhone is connected to a power source and wifi. The only role of the computer is as a power source. Mine is still wanting to download untold amounts of data, so now I just avoid using wifi.

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Answer 5

Mar 11, 2014 2:02 PM in response to Madam

That's exactly when it starts downloading whatever it is,. When it's connected to wifi and a power source,. But it should stop eventually once it finalizes whatever it's going through,. I think it's the Siri and Maps updating, as well as other things.

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Answer 6

Mar 11, 2014 2:03 PM in response to Madam

I am now connected to a power supply and on wifi and it looks like it stops after several minutes.

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Answer 7

nathanial

Level 2

344 points

Mar 11, 2014 2:47 PM in response to Madam

It's background app update. It's not using any cellular data when its done on wifi, so you dont need to worry about going over your data package. And the space is already being used by the app simply being there. The old file gets overwritten and deleted from the phone. There is no double usage when updating an app.

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Answer 8

Madam Author

Level 1

96 points

Mar 11, 2014 3:50 PM in response to nathanial

Thanks Nathanial. You are right cellular is not being used, however I have limited data on my wifi (modem/router is itself connected to cellular), so it is a problem for me.

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Answer 9

Madam Author

Level 1

96 points

Mar 11, 2014 3:51 PM in response to Reefsta80

Yes, it's stopped on my 4S and iPad, but the iPhone 5 wants to go on and on.

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