IOS 8 High Cellular Data Usage

One more thing:

3) Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh Off

No, leave iCloud On. You don't want to cripple your user experience.

I never said turn iCloud off. I said disable cellular data for iCloud. Why do you need iCloud using your LTE or 3G data just to keep things updated? Cellular data is unreliable compared to Wi-Fi and probably less secure than Wi-Fi as well. Besides, I'm happy with my once-a-day iCloud backup and would like to save my data and my battery life for other functions.

If you don't use handoff you could disable that as well. It's only useful if you have other devices that support it.

Hi all,

So I'm in the same boat. My daughter's 4s died. Bought a pre-owned 32 GB 5c on Gazelle.com and in a month she's racked up over 5 GB of data. Each of the other three of us on our family plan use approx. 0.5 GB (this is 2 5c's and a 6) and that's what she used to use on her old 4s. Her usage patterns have not changed with the new phone.

As soon as I got the first usage limit warning message, I turned off all the apps, location services, iCloud, etc. After livechatting with Apple just now, I reset the network and reset the statistics. I'm sitting here doing nothing on the phone, and we have Wifi on and connected...and in the past half hour the phone has used 219 KB of cellular data. Messages are coming in for her on iMessage, Instagram etc., but cellular data is turned off for those apps.

What is going on?

One thing I did find interesting in talking to Apple was that the original owner bought the phone less than a year ago, which makes me think this might be why s/he returned it. This means I still have a limited warranty. Here are my questions:

Should I take it to the genius bar and see if they'll replace it?

Return it to Gazelle (I have a few days left on my 30 day warranty)?

Can Verizon help or is this an Apple thing?

Any advice appreciated it.

Joanne

OK, I have the same issue. also ATT and iPhone 6. it all started 2 weeks ago when I got a message from ATT saying I was nearing my data limit, which I found very strange, but thought it must be one of the new photo storing apps that I'd installed. I was at the end of the cycle but bought the extra 500MB of data anyway.

then today I received the same warning, only 2 weeks into my billing cycle! and I've never ever reached my limit before. I've reset the usage statistics an hour ago, and system services has racked up a few KB since then, even though I'm on wifi. it says "push notifications" have used up all the data but I haven't received any notifications. I'm furious!

I have the same issue: ATT and two new iPhone6s in the family. I received the AT&T data limit warning this morning and found the phones had used about 2x their normal rate. We are trying some suggestions someone provided at the very beginning of this thread:

1) Settings>General>iCloud>Documents & Data... Scroll down and have the customer turn off Use¿Cellular Data

2) Settings>iTunes & App Store> Scroll down to AUTOMATIC DOWNLOADS and have the customer turn off MUSIC, APPS, UPDATES

3) Settings>General>Background App Refresh (turn off any apps that the customer doesn't want to automatically refresh with their information)

4) Settings>Privacy>Location Services (the customer will see all the apps that have the GPS enabled(Everything should be turned off except Setting Time Zone)

Here's what I wound up doing: Apple replaced the phone because it was still under warranty. I also bought a wireless extender to make the WiFi stronger in my daughter's room. I think one thing that was happening was the old phone was going to cell data too quickly at home and I think the better WiFi helped there. But since her usage was also unusually high when she wasn't at home, I know that wasn't the entire cause.

In any case, those two things fixed my problem. None of those other setting changes did a thing.

Joanne

This bug occurred on both my girlfriends iPhone 5s, and on my iPhone 6. The only way I found to truly fix it is to erase all content and settings from the phone, and instead of restoring a backup, set it up as a new iPhone. It's a huge pain, but considerably less so if you use iCloud Photo Library and iTunes Match, as all of that content will be waiting for you.

Judging from the fact this thread has well over a million views, and by the fact it occurred on both iPhones in our household, this is not an uncommon bug. My girlfriend paid hundreds of dollars in overage charges to AT&T before we finally figured it out. My phone had consumed nearly my entire months data within a day before I received a text message from AT&T warning me.

I can't imagine how costly (both monetarily and time wise) this issue has been to so many people, and I'm shocked and disappointed that Apple hasn't officially addressed it yet.

Jesse

SAme issue here! I checked all my cellular data usage for my iPhone 5 and everything is turned off. Went to DC and my data went over my limit within the first day. Just came back and I've been on WiFi ever since. Ironically I just received a text saying I've gone over my limit for a second time!

So I'm actually making the jump from Android to iPhone, just ordering the iPhone 6 for my wife and I. She is coming from the 4S. Basically, what I'm hearing is to set-up the phone brand new without restoring any backups? I hope we don't have this issue (Verizon).

I am just having the same issue!

My wife just upgraded to the iPhone 6 and she had a data overage (more than 9gb of data) in just 5 effective days of use. Looking at the posts in this forum, I am now realizing that the problem is much more common than I thought. Somebody asked whiy Apple has not done something about it and sincerely, I cannot think of a particular reason.

I brought the problem up to AT&T several times over tha past week and they have been useless. I say they are not interested, and will not be interested because they keep receiving extra money from the data overages. If somebody had the time to organize a classaction lawsuit, I think there would be plenty of material.

For my part, I am just very upset. I feel that I am being ripped off, taken advantge off.

I am frustrated beyond belief, just like every other post that I've read on this thread.

I upgraded from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 6 exactly one month ago. In one day, I used up one-fourth of my data plan and was scrambling to figure out what the **** was going on. To back up my cause, I downloaded and printed out from A T & T my past 3 months' worth of usage showing that I had never even come close to using one-quarter of my data plan -- and in one day it was depleted -- while I was connected to my own wifi network? This was bizarre! I even took a picture with my camera of my wifi settings on the phone to show all of my router, DNS and IP settings to prove that I was indeed on my network. That did prove useful, not only at A T & T but also at Apple when I brought the phone in. I had already incurred overage charges, too.

A T & T claimed it was an Apple issue. They route me to the Genius Bar at Apple; spent nearly 2 hours there haggling back and forth with them as they allege that:

1. Even though I am connected to the wifi on my computer, my phone is dropping the wifi connection at home and that's not their issue;

2. It's a mystery when the phone is using data despite the data usage on the phone being turned off;

3. Maybe I haven't entered in my home wifi password correctly;

4. They can't explain why I've used so much data; perhaps I need to assess my usage and cut back how many apps I'm running (huh?);

5. When I pulled up this very thread while waiting at the Genius Bar to prove that there were issues, I was told "That is not an Apple supported site and those are just a bunch of random people posting there." Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

Then I'm told that my phone needs to be totally wiped clean: reset and I can't restore it from a backup. After 2 hours in the Apple Store, they could have told me anything and I would have agreed to it. Fine.

Get back home and spend another hour on the phone with A T & T Customer Care to get the overage charges taken off, after I give them all of the documentation.

The issue arrises when you go to set up your phone when you get back home, as you can't restore it from a backup. Fine if you have a brand new computer. But I have a 2011 MBP still running on Snow Leopard, and that version of iTunes doesn't talk well with the new iPhones and their iCloud-enabled operating system.

So I spend another 2 hours on the phone with Apple Care getting my contacts back on my phone, as everything on these new phones positively without a doubt defaults to iCloud -- and it's so embedded into the OS that you have to be one of their engineers to figure out how deep the layers go.

Advice for those of you who upgrade to an iPhone 6: watch your data usage.

*Go to General --> Settings --> Background App Refresh --> Turn it OFF

*If you're attempting to set up an iPhone as a new device and it wants to pull contacts from iCloud and you want to pull info from your computer instead: Settings --> iCloud --> Contacts --> turn OFF (it took an Apple Care tech supervisor to figure that out for me).

And back up everything; thinking you backed it up through iTunes does you absolutely no good either, as restoring one of these phones from a backup apparently just perpetuates the issue. You absolutely must start it as a clean phone.

Six hours of my life wasted for a phone! There has got to be a better way.

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. We've seen some improvement during this billing cycle by turning off LTE on the iPhone6s, so they are using 4G as on the older models. The improvement was dramatic on one of our 2 iPhone6s, and noticeable on the other. AT&T told me LTE is very sensitive -- or something -- and will kick in at the slightest variation in wifi, which might explain your point #1, " Even though I am connected to the wifi on my computer, my phone is dropping the wifi connection at home..."

We also turned cellular data off for many apps, trying to limit it to those we found essential. Spotify was the biggest consumer, followed by social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). You can find out what's hogging data in your Cellular settings.

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind:

1. If I understand your post, you wiped your phone clean and started fresh vs. restoring from backup. So did you have to download all of your apps individually from the appstore? And then how did you get contacts, photos, etc. back?
2. What documentation did you use with AT&T to get the overage charges reversed? So far we haven't run over but you never know ...

First, my phone was connected to my wifi, and neither A T & T nor Apple could explain why it was being charged against my data plan. One of the charges in question, in fact, I actually showed them on my phone as a FaceTime call (this was before it was wiped, and I had the printout from A T & T showing the charges), and I told them that the phone was propped next to my MBP, which was also connected to wifi and I was on the internet editing a website. So, if my MBP had connectivity, how was the phone not having a connection, especially when I could clearly see the wifi connection symbol on the phone screen? Both Apple and A T & T were stumped on that one.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, my phone was wiped clean at the Apple Store. I was specifically told I could NOT restore it from the back up I had created in iTunes on my MacBook Pro. When I plugged it in, iTunes gives you the option to either set it up as a new phone or restore from backup; I chose to set it up as a new phone. You'll have a series of tabs on the top of your iTunes screen (at least my version does): Summary, Info, Apps, Ringtones, Music, etc. Each will allow you to transfer information. By making previous backups, I had transferred my apps (an important note to do in iTunes on your phone before it's wiped: in iTunes, go to File --> Devices --> Transfer Purchases. That will move all of your apps over to your computer and not just sync them). I chose which apps I wanted to transfer to my phone (because I also have an iPad and didn't want them transferred); chose to sync my mail accounts; chose to move my custom-made ringtones and so on. The contacts in my Address Book was the glitch. That's where I had to actually CALL Apple Care. I didn't have the option to move my Address Book (contacts) over, because the phone defaults to pull your contacts from iCloud. That's why I stated in my previous post that you need to turn that setting off. Once done, you can transfer all of your contacts, too.

My photos are backed up through Google Photos, since I have Google Drive, so that wasn't a problem -- I just downloaded back onto my phone from there whichever photos I wanted back to set for my wallpaper/background. I don't store any music on my phone, but I could have transferred playlists if I so desired at this point.

FYI -- all of your messages are lost when your phone is wiped clean . . . but if you have an iPad, your messages will still be on that device.

2. Documentation: Log into your A T & T account online. You can print any and all of your past monthly billing cycle(s) worth of data usage. I have a 200 MB plan on my phone because I traditionally don't use a lot of data. This was clear -- in the months of March, April and May of this year, I had used 48, 52 and 51 MB respectively. Then, when I got this iPhone 6, within 3 weeks I had used 257 MB of data; in fact, when I called, I had logged 48 MB in one day! The rep I spoke with (and this was after I'd gone to Apple and was told it was a "software problem" on my phone) at A T & T agreed that something was definitely wrong and removed the overage charge.

Seriously, I spent my entire day yesterday goofing around with this phone. What a frustrating experience!