IOS 8 High Cellular Data Usage

I have resetted the network settings, resetted the iPhone completely (several times), deactivated the iCloud Drive on my iPhone and all my Macs but the problem is still there. "Documents & Syncr." is still spending hundreds of MB in a few hours (WLAN and/or Cellular).

I'm forced to deactivate cellular data every time to not reach my providers 500 MB monthly volume in 1 or 2 days.

You may want to consider bringing this to an Apple store - see if they have anything to offer

The problem is not specific to iCloud Drive it is iCloud overall. Perhaps there is one particular item or computer that is causing your sync issues.

I would suggest turning off your wifi so your phone is on cellular then one at a time put your Macs to sleep see if the Documents & Sync drain stops when one particular Mac is no longer on. If you notice the drain stops when one particular Mac is asleep and the others are on then on that one disable each iCloud item one at a time and again see if the drain stops. On your phone I did find I had to keep going out of Settings Cellular for it to refresh and have the usage go up. I would also suggest for the testing period to have Cellular data turned off for all other apps and even reset your statistics so its easier to see the increase, and make sure there are no other apps running in the background.

From everything I saw with this issue and what other people have been saying it doesn't seem like it is specifically an iOS issue but an iCloud issue between computers and iOS devices.

If you are close to your maximum data amount for the month call your provider and tell them there is a problem and your data is being drained because of it and see if they will waive the fee then you can troubleshoot and not worry if you go over your data.

Generally its because icloud usage is turned on (even with cellular)

Settings ->iCloud -> iCloud Drive ->Use Cellular data (off)

Or select only those apps you want. .

iCloud Drive is not turned on. Documents & Snycr. is still wasting MBs.

As I detailed in my earlier post, the trick is to leave iCloud on, but turn "use celllular/mobile data" off in the iCloud settings. Synchronisation then only takes place over WiFi. You need to do this for all data streaming services and those which hold continuous conversations with servers about your marketing preferences (iTunes Genius for example).

i did this and my data use has dropped dramatically. Last month I only used 562 MB out of a 4gb cap, and that was with tethering and there has been no change in my phone's day to day performance.

Here is the latest.

I thought I had the problem beat but it didn't last. As soon as I turned on one of my machines the data drain started up and then even if I shut it down wouldn't stop! This is a major bug in the iCloud implementation.

Apple had me send them diagnostics from my machine and run a ton of test which included capturing images and sending them to them. I spent hours upon hours doing all this to receive this reply "The last response I received about our escalation was that the spike could be from when an iOS device is added, the others will sync iCloud info together causing a temporary increase in cell data usage. Because the glitch does not seem to be located in one iCloud data class, we were unable to locate the root of the issue. ".

What a poor excuse for addressing the issue. No iOS device was added at any point! Furthermore I guess we better call Webster's and ask the definition of temporary to change to "constant for days on end" because there is nothing temporary about the data drain, it doesn't stop. Well unless you consider turning on airplane mode or functionality off on your phone a solution to stop the drain and make it temporary. Yes, I want to spend $1400 on a smart phone for less than half the functionality. Thanks Apple! They are grasping at straws and cannot explain why it's happening. They refuse to admit that there is a problem with the iCloud implementation or what "documents and sync" "is". This only started when I accepted the "upgrade" to iCloud Drive. Before that I was fine.

Not impressed at all and it will be the first time in decades that I will start advising people not to purchase their products. What would Steve do?

As I see there are more and more with similar issues...

That really ***** Apple!

Moreover with what I said on my previous posts I haven't ever entered the icloud drive menu!!!!

Some users claim that this is maybe the fault but I haven't used icloud Drive at all's

EVeryday I see clearly how my data are drained four no logical reason.

Especially crucial for me is not the Document & Sync but the iTunes Accounts data drainage.

This is what cost me 700MB IN ONE DAY!!!!!

of course all icloud and email are shut off and no background apps are running on the background.

So Apple, what's going on before I go to court?

AltusGR wrote:

As I see there are more and more with similar issues...

That really ***** Apple!

Moreover with what I said on my previous posts I haven't ever entered the icloud drive menu!!!!

Some users claim that this is maybe the fault but I haven't used icloud Drive at all's

EVeryday I see clearly how my data are drained four no logical reason.

Especially crucial for me is not the Document & Sync but the iTunes Accounts data drainage.

This is what cost me 700MB IN ONE DAY!!!!!

of course all icloud and email are shut off and no background apps are running on the background.

So Apple, what's going on before I go to court?

If you really want to complain to Apple, don't use these user threads... go to apple.com/feedback

I have the same issue.

after upgrading to iOS 8.1.2, my iphone is using more than 1 GB a day.

in last 4 hours, it has used over 600 MB's.

I have turned off almost all cellular tags everywhere in settings.

helpless 😟

i feel sorry for the people like me in Canada on a Bell network, no warning aside from a txt msg saying i had reached $50 in add'l charges for data and that they had blocked it. thanks apple! hope it comes down to them giving some sort of compensation... really not impressed

yes i have this question this is my picture (i come form China but i use iphone 5s bought in hongkong just use one hour made in hongkong )

Ok so I am going to tell everyone what has started working for me. Long story short I have the 2gb plan with the Iphone 6 on verizon (had the 5 with the same issue) and go through it within 5 days of the new cycle. So hopefully this next piece helps everyone like it did me. First I am on wifi about 90% of the time either at work or at home. So i tried doing everything Apple said to do and turn off cellular data and the back ground app refresh (which is bull crap because some apps in their own setting still have this on and cannot be turned off) which did me no good. So what I have found that works for me is to actually turn off the LTE radio and only be on 3g when connected to wifi (like at home and work). This has dropped my cellular usage back to a normal rate and for the past 2 weeks have seen a drastic improvement in my overall data consumption. I have even gone a couple of days with no data usage what so ever. So my conclusion is this...the LTE radio is always on using data even when connected to wifi. Apple needs to fix this asap. Whenever wifi is connect IOS should shut down the LTE radio until wifi connectivity is lost. Hopefully others can try this out and report back if their data usage looks to correct itself. Oh btw Apple is a bunch of phags!

I am having the exact same issue as everyone else. Running through 3gb in less than a week and hardly using the phone. I do not always have access to wifi, but it still shouldn't burn through that much data while idle and locked. My older iphones never did that. I will try turning off LTE as the previous poster suggested and see if that helps, but restoring the phone, turning off background app refresh, and even getting a new phone from Apple has not helped.

To cut a very long story short, after trying many things suggested in this thread (restore from back-up, clean start, remove suspect apps, disable services selectively …), none of which stopped my iPhone 5S from racking up large transfer volumes under Documents & Sync on cellular (and having awful battery life), this is what worked for me:

1. Log out my Retina MBP from iCloud (clicking through many dire warnings).

2. Log out my iPhone from iCloud (ditto).

3. Log rMPB back into iCloud. Enable desired services.

4. Disable Handoff on rMBP. (It's "Allow Handoff between this Mac and iCloud Services" in the General System Preferences pane.)

5. Log iPhone back into iCloud. Enable desired services.

6. Disable Handoff on iPhone (Settings->General->Handoff & Suggested Apps)

I have not yet dared to turn Handoff on again. I can live without it — and I just love the battery life I'm getting: best I can remember.

Just in case you wonder, once Handoff is disabled, Bluetooth can be enabled on both devices. I'd had it turned off on the iPhone before the steps above.

My suspicion is that some Continuity-related database somewhere on my rMPB was corrupt, making it impossible for iCloud-connected devices ever to believe that they were properly synchronised. Except, if that's the case, why did I never have a problem with my iPad Air, which also has cellular data? Truth is, I don't know, and, having tried so many things, I can't even be sure if it's the steps above that fixed the problem.