What is 'Media Services' and why is it draining all my data?

I figured out what is is.. the hard way thou. My Iphone 6S was restored from an older 6 which carried several Gigs of Music.

THis morning I started Apple music for the first time on the train again and it asked me to switch on Icloud music services.

I thought this is just to see and stream my music. The following hours the phone killed 90% of the battery and munched through

vast amount of cellular data although data usage for the itunes, music and appstore app were deactivated (I deactivated data usage of apple music when

I noticed the battery drainage). The activation of icloud music in fact moved all songs which were downloaded on my older iphone 6 into the download list in itunes although the dada usage was already deactivated. The data usage was entirely assigned to media services in the system services section.

So there you go.. (and so did my 7GB of free cellular data) Media Services is responsible in case you make your music offline available.. I hope this helps some of you guys to avoid my mistake. Cheers...

I Recently came off an unlimited plan and am now watching my data like a hawk. i made a ton of music "available offline" with apple Music while on wifi. Once all songs were downloaded I left wifi range and played music. I chewed through 2.5 gb of data in no time by playing songs Apple Music has claimed were available offline. Lars Vader- are you saying that even when you make it available offline it isn't actually available offline and they are still using data? If that's the case I'll just go back to Spotify.

I just checked my device, and the last time that I reset statistics was on 8/14. I look at Media Services on my device and it reports 403KB. I really don't know what that signifies, and have not been able to locate anything that indicates what it is. Maybe someone else would know, but a jump like that would make me wonder too. Perhaps you can do a reset and monitor what it is that you do with the phone for a short period and see if anything is added to that section, and could possibly determine what it is. Otherwise, you might make an appointment at the Genius Bar at Apple and ask that question.

I think I remember reading another post where someone asked this question, but I cannot remember when. After responding to you I reset my data and checked again a while later and found no entries there. So, I'm not sure what it is, but whatever it was, I haven't used any of it. Hopefully someone else may have encountered an issue, but whatever it is, I've not used very much of it. Good luck.

Well, I hate to put a hole in that theory, but I do not use Facebook Messenger, so that couldn't be the source on my phone. My last reset was when I installed iOS8, and I see media services in here again, and it is showing 63.3KB, but again, not sure what it is and haven't really had time to test various apps to see what might lead to it.

iPhone 6 Plus 128GB iOS8.1

Settings->iCloud->iCloud Drive (on)->:

iCloud Drive allows apps to store documents and data in iCloud

[The page then lists all of the applications that have permission to store data up to the iCloud.]

At the bottom of the page is an option to "use cellular data"

Not sure if that's the culprit, but it's worth checking.

Nah.. when my stuff was readily downloaded on the Iphone6 there was no additional data usage. Back then I had 1GB cellular data and would have noticed.

Even if apple music would stream what you listened to it can not explain the 2.5GB since apple music should use about 50-60MB per hour streaming at a normal quality. What I am claiming is that if there is stuff in your download list when you leave your wifi it might suck your data dry even if you switch off mobile data usage eventually.

Did you check the download list in the itunes app or in the apple music "x songs are being downloaded" display? I noticed yesterday that they are not always in line. My download list in the itunes app showed 941 downloads while the music app claimed 820 songs in download.

Maybe your downloads were just not finished yet when you left and it didn't show up 😟

I just ran into the same problem. With no warning Apple Music started downloading all the contents of my iCloud library and made them available offline. It drained my battery in about 2 hours and i had no idea why. I was confused until I found this thread and when i opened iTunes on my phone it said downloading 6 songs. It chewed through 11.5GB of data on my plan and caused it to go over. The only difference between me and Lars Vader was that I've always had the iCloud music turned. All of a sudden there was a mass download and use of data which i'm furious about.

Bringing this thread up because the "Media Services" are back with iOS 9.2!

Installed 9.2 two days ago around noon and although I've been within my home's wifi for an hour after that, iOS 9.2 managed to drain 2,6 GB of cellular data during the following afternoon being outside and deplete my battery as well. My monthly data plan is now depleted. Thanks Apple!

I checked all the settings if any slider has been moved out of the "off-position" for cellular usage on iCloud backup, photo sync, etc. But it's not. I still have no idea which Apple system service caused this usage. It's the "media services" but which app? The app listing of cellular data lists only ~120 MB for photos or apple music or messages. My provider won't reset my data plan until Apple admittes a bug. 😟

We're do we file an bug report?

Many are having issue and had Wi-fi assist off, so that is not the culprit. Other threads suggesting it is cellular data in Music (apple music) that is eating the data (even if music is not being played)

Just a very long call with Apple in Ireland. Very nice but in there opinion there is no issue with iOS.

Even supervisor confirmed that system services -> media services is ineed only iCloud Photo Library or Drive and NOT Apple Music. Latter is shown via the usage of the Music App. But they trace every iOS Update to confirm issues and although millions of devices have been upgraded already, there is not really a widespread issue with huge traffic on iCloud. Since there won't be a toggle sw to track the activity of iCloud Photos and system datas (which I find ridiculous, since no progress is visible and they also limit all possible 3rd party app's usage or even the iTunes App cellular limit of 200 MB) they can only strongly recommend to stay in Wifi range for a reasonable time (> 2h) after an iOS update. They say it is possible that an old sync progress has been on hold due to an error and has now been solved and synced unfortunately. Feedback is required via feedback.apple.com to have an on/off sw for iCloud cellular data!

In fact, Apple Music uses iCloud drive (iCloud Music Library) unless you turn disable that option. So the connection with the Media Services and Apple Music/iCloud Drive is a valid one and apparently a source of the problem. Whether it is because of Music downloads or streaming or some other cause, etc is another question. The issue would likely only arise for iphone users who 1) updated to 9.2 and 2) who subscribe to Apple Music and 3) have iCloud Drive enabled for Apple Music and 4) Have "cellular data" enabled under the Music service.

So Apple saying millions of users have update without issue doesn't really say much unless you are looking at the group that meets the above variables.

Very good summary and feedback! Thx.

What makes you say there is a valid connection between Apple Music and iCloud Drive and the "Media Services"? What is the correlation between the toggle of iCloud Drive and Apple Music (your variable 3) )?

I definitely match all four variables. The only point the Apple Support couldn't answer is, why 9.2 felt to suddenly download 2,6 GB of data. They blame a stuck photo sync or delete command, but I don't buy that. In the future I will be more careful - as long as there is no option to disable or limit cellular sync (of Apple Music iCloud files whatever).