IOS 8 High Cellular Data Usage

You don't need to disable iCloud on everything. In iOS8 go to Settings > iCloud

Turn off Backup. I don't know whether turning off Backup has any significant effect, but I did it as a precaution. I plan to turn it on in the next couple of days before my data plan refreshes just to see what happens.

Then go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive

Scroll down and turn off any apps that you don't need to use iCloud then scroll to the bottom and turn off "Mobile Data"

Then go to Settings > Mobile and from the App list turn off any apps that use streamed media or sync large amounts of data, e.g. Google Drive or which aren't internet dependent such as some games. I've left it on for banking apps, weather, timetables etc.

In iTunes and App Store turn off automatic downloads and/or mobile data. If you have mobile data turned off in the previous stage then it will be automatically disabled so you can - if you want to, I personally don't - enable automatic downloads. Automatic downloads will then only kick in when you are on a WiFi connection. I only have App store updates enabled because I can't be arsed to keep updating them manually and my storage is only 16Gb so I don't want it shoving every app, iBook or tune that I buy on my computer down the line to my phone and clogging it up.

Finally, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn that off, or select the more data hungry apps and turn them off. The only apps I was concerned that this might affect were the weather apps but it doesn't seem to have made the slightest bit of difference to their functionality.

Following these measures my data consumption has dropped to 582MB since Dec 5th.

Also when tethering I no longer use Apple mail on my Mac Book Pro. Apple mail with an IMAP Gmail account uses up to 120MB in a day. Accessing my email on my iPhone or a browser uses a tiny fraction of that.

I should say that I don't know what happens if you leave iCloud enabled on your laptop and you tether it using your phone. i don't think that disabling mobile data for iCloud on your phone will have any effect on data polled by a laptop via a tethered connection. My MBP is still on Mavericks and iCloud drive is only active on my iMac.

Interestingly the problem for me really began when I enabled iCloud Drive on my iMac after the Yosemite beta program reached maturity in October.

I had the problem with EE as well. It always seemed to happen in the last week of the month. The data monitor on my EE App would show that I'd used maybe 1.2GB out of a 4GB cap. I'd be feeling flush with only 5 days to go before refresh when suddenly my data would drop to perhaps 300MB available and start dropping by 100 M a day. If i ran out, EE's first response was to suggest that I move up to a data plan that "better suited my needs" which made me suspect that they were manipulating the data logging of low users to try to bump them up to more expensive plans.

Now the data meter in my EE app is totally blank and all i get is "Request cannot be processed at this time". They finally started to take my complaint seriously when I pointed out that it would probably have been technically impossible for me to have used the 4GB of data that they claimed I had used in a 48 hour period and threatened them with Ofcom and with terminating my contract unilaterally and forcing them to take me to court for the cancellation fee. Since then they've been pretty compliant with me and even gave me a temporary 12GB cap. But the meter stalled and 5.2GB and now doesn't give me any info at all...

I'm still not convinced that it's an iPhone problem and not a clandestine scheme being run by EE.

It reminds me very much of the time I found hundreds of short phantom call charges on my home phone bill, to my most frequently called numbers, which clocked up £90 in connection charges which BT couldn't explain. After initially trying to say that "I must have made the calls" and trying to blame my stroke-disabled mother I presented them with verified evidence that the calls could not have been made by anyone at the times listed and they got a senior manager to call and explain that they were waiving the charges as "a gesture of goodwill". When I asked for an explanation of how the charges came to be made and why they were seemingly "hidden" amongst my most frequently called numbers she became very defensive and the only response I was able to elicit amounted to "I'm sorry, I have no explanation" but I was left wondering how many other people had been massively overcharged in this way.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have no confidence in the honesty of the executives who run the companies nor the people who author their software. In the light of the recent debacle with Amazon's pricing software (and if Amazon can screw up anyone can) I think we can be forgiven for having no confidence in the monitoring software of the major telecoms companies.

I didn't last! I bought a new 27" iMac this past week (Christmas money and savings) and as soon as I logged into iCloud...boom the drain was back. To complicate things I then logged out of my old iMac and the data drain stopped. I've been experimenting and it seems as soon as you add a third laptop/desktop, this problem returns. To make matters worse Apple, without speaking to me, closed my file and stated the problem as resolved. Um, no it's not resolved you have a HUGE bug with your implementation of cloud services which basically make your devices useless (need to turn data off on your cell or you need to have one or more computers unsynced). Kind of defeats the promises of cloud services.

I recontacted Apple who have now had me run some app on my desktop which collected a large amount of data off my machine (logs, settings) and sent it to them.

This is beyond frustrating and VERY disappointing give my expectations and support of Apple!

Will continue to update.

Same madness here as well. I have went through 4GB of data. I am going through 1GB per day! This nonsense seems to have started from last week. There is no way Apple and AT&T is unaware of this. I am on par to exceed over 7GB of data. I reset my statistics and chewed through 20MB within a few minutes. I shut off everything and will not pay my cellular bill until this is corrected.

OK, I am an Apple fanatic since I had five iPhones. I love apple but I think this is maybe the last straw with its crash since the death of Steve jobs.

I bought the new iPhone 6 and in the beginning everything went ok. All my previous iPhones had none cellular drain of any kind.

Before a few weeks I notice that my data went strangely too low and started to see what app drain my data. In my surprise it was not assign app but the system itself, and specifically in the Data settings / system and more specifically the ITUNES ACCOUNTS. Just check it yourself and see that the drainage comes not from the other documents data which they only consume kb off data instead of Itunes Accounts data monitor that consumers hundred of MB's!!!!

The odd thing is that is happens not in a daily basis for me. It's just happens once at a time. Me it happens three times since the first time.

The last one it consumed about 400 MB of cellular data without any reason and ALL due to iTunes Account as it showed at the Data settings menu below.

What is then itunes accounts and how can be blocked?

I read many articles here and I am convinced that neither icloud is to blame. At least not 100%. Also it's not a hardware reason at all.

Somehow only itunes accounts syncing making this happens.

So, as I see not iOS 8.1.2 can solve the bug. I am now in 8.1.1. As I see and read neither the fault is in jailbreak devices as it happens on non JB devices too.

Also I don't have icloud drive never ON nor I had icloud BackUp active at all.

Lately I put Find my phone on but ever putting it off its the same. Data drainage continued.

I now have disabled all my email accounts to manually.

Even the icloud account is not syncing theoretically as it is put to manual.

All appstore updates are disabled, all icloud services are off and handshake is also off from the start.

Finally I don't have any iMac or any laptop at my Apple id.

There is only a Ipad mini on iOS 8.1.1 with no icloud services running.

So, what is happening apple? Why do mysteriously not telling nothing about it?

We are losing money and our loyalty is under test?

NO final question? What is considered to be under the ' itunes accounts' on the iphone if you are not syncing it under data?

A

I have a similar issue with a family plan. I got an iphone 6 on verizon for my cousin who is here on a work visa for a few years. He literally is home and at his job (he works with me) all day and does almost nothing else. Since early october when he got the iphone (his line was added to family share plan) the 4gb family plan has SKYROCKETED to almost 8gb a month. We were not even using half of the 4gb prior to that for over a year. I have an iphone 5 also and have never had issues.

I noticed that every month in the middle we were getting texts from verizon saying that data usage was close to limit and then it was over. I told him to stop using his phone and he said I only use it on wifi. The amount of time he spends outside of wifi is maybe 30 minutes a day and it is mostly transit (with me driving) between work and his apartment.

There is NO WAY that all that data gets used. It is impossible. Any time outside work and home, like sightseeing and social activies, I am with him since he knows no one in new york, and he barely uses his phone.

He does however use his wifi at home and at work to talk to relatives abroad on skype and viber and since he has no tv at home he does surf the web a lot.

I am convinced that while he is on wifi he is being charged for data. early on when he got his phone, I turned off all the auto backup bullsh-t and anything I could see that had todo with cellular usage and it still charges.

I just called verizon and they said to call apple and check the myverizon data usage and there are odd very large chunks of data usage at times where is is with me or at home. Our schedule is very routine oriented and mundane.

There is definitely something going on here that is very wrong. Am going to call Apple a little bit later today.

Hi there!

Sorry for my bad English but recently I am using Swype and it makes a lot of mistakes that I don't correct!!! Lol.

So, for me it is exactly the same situation. I don't download apps or watch videos or any other data consuming activity.

I daily have only Viber ON for a quick chat with some of my friends.

And that's all. Instead of using a couple of kb or even a few megabytes, for no reason at all, it charged me three times more than 400 MB!!!!

The funny thing is that I have everything turned off. Icloud, app updates from the app store , no multitasking refresh apps, no email push.

And the mystery continues.

I read somewhere that maybe, I say maybe, there is something to do with the telephone services.

If the son's of bitchies are stealing us they will regret it!!!!

Hope you do something with Apple.

Please be king and inform me if you hear something new.

Sincerely, George.;-)

aramism182 wrote:

I have a similar issue with a family plan. I got an iphone 6 on verizon for my cousin who is here on a work visa for a few years. He literally is home and at his job (he works with me) all day and does almost nothing else. Since early october when he got the iphone (his line was added to family share plan) the 4gb family plan has SKYROCKETED to almost 8gb a month. We were not even using half of the 4gb prior to that for over a year. I have an iphone 5 also and have never had issues.

I noticed that every month in the middle we were getting texts from verizon saying that data usage was close to limit and then it was over. I told him to stop using his phone and he said I only use it on wifi. The amount of time he spends outside of wifi is maybe 30 minutes a day and it is mostly transit (with me driving) between work and his apartment.

There is NO WAY that all that data gets used. It is impossible. Any time outside work and home, like sightseeing and social activies, I am with him since he knows no one in new york, and he barely uses his phone.

He does however use his wifi at home and at work to talk to relatives abroad on skype and viber and since he has no tv at home he does surf the web a lot.

I am convinced that while he is on wifi he is being charged for data. early on when he got his phone, I turned off all the auto backup bullsh-t and anything I could see that had todo with cellular usage and it still charges.

I just called verizon and they said to call apple and check the myverizon data usage and there are odd very large chunks of data usage at times where is is with me or at home. Our schedule is very routine oriented and mundane.

There is definitely something going on here that is very wrong. Am going to call Apple a little bit later today.

I agree. This type of thing started to occur with my daughter's iPhone 5, even before iOS8, after she had her iPhone 5 replaced. I tried to get ATT and Apple to explain how her cellular data usage could increase so dramatically after the replacement, but they couldn't. Apple re-replaced the phone with another 5. but the issue continued.

I find it very disconcerting that neither Apple or ATT can determine why her data usage increased so much, or even what the data usage is. The problem continues with her iPhone 6 Eventually, I think this will translate into a class action lawsuit and it'll be enough money to let me retire.

This has been making me so mad. Before I was on a plan with 2 other phones all sharing 2gb. And we were completely fine. I didnt have to worry about turning off cellular data, I used it whenever I wanted, no problem. But now I have my own line of 500mb, which should be fine because Im usually on wifi. But just being on a few apps for 30 minutes at work used up half of my data!! Ridiculous!! Never had that issue before until just recently. I'm going to cancel my service with verizon. Its more of an inconvenience now. Im not going to monitor every little thing I do. I never thought I'd go to andriod. But this is some BS.

OK, remember that the problem still exists and nobody from Apple is telling as a thing.

This is really not the Apple I want to be in love with.

We should know where ALL that data GO!

it's our privacy, it's our right to know where our days are going.

If we don't use them at all then this system's data activity must be traceable by Apple.

I don't take a no or a silence as an answer.

They have to explain us what's happening right now!

System Services / iTunes Accounts data monitoring has charged me at least three times distinctly in separate times in a month, hundreds of MB of data without any cause. I have all my icloud buttons inactive (and this is not normal if somebody wants to use icloud or pays for a subscription) , my email are set all to manually, nothing running in the background, no other services running. Nor imessage, nor nothing.

And on my iPhone 6 ( iOS 8.1.2) under the data menu at settings is saying that ITunes Accounts is syncing data!!!!!!

To where? For what reason? To whom?.

I am ready to make a lawsuit like no other.

If Apple is not willing to tell what exactly is going on my ITS SOFTWARE, not mine, then they would tell it at the court when thousands will proceed for refund and order charges.

I am still waiting though for an official excuse as Apple want to claim that it's the best company in the planet.

I have found the same iTunes synch problem with my iPhone 6 ( iOS 8.1.2) and my wife iPhone 5 ( iOS 8.1.2) although everything is switched off or to manual. However, the overall data usage has dropped since I followed the various suggestions in this tread. I have also noticed that my wife iPhone 5 has reset the cellular statistics (automatically by the phone) at least twice during the past three weeks !!

Okay - so like most others I too had the extraordinary data usage issue with my new iphone 6 (this was my third i-phone, my data usage had been stable for 7 years).

Almost immediately I had to purchase additional data from my provider - Verizon, when they started sending the alerts to me. Then to stop the additional purchases I ended up upgrading my data plan. All while I was frantically trying to turn off data-draining settings, per this and other forums.

Here's my question and thought - how much money did Verizon and ATT (et al) make off this ISO upgrade? Multiply the small percentage of people that posted here and the dollar impact to them for unnecessary additional data purchases and overage fees by the MILLIONS of Apple users and I am feeling that we may be seeing a class-action lawsuit in the making.

This cost consumers millions if not billions of dollars - and is STILL costing them and us this money. In addition to the additional data purchases I am now stuck with a new plan costing $50 more per month. Are you kidding me? APPLE are you listening?

Agree. Regret purchasing the iPhone 6 my data usage went from 1.5 GB a month to 6 GB per month and I have not changed my usage. What's the point of having a smart phone if you need to turn the cellular off? An absolute joke Apple 😠

So far so good on my data usage since December 23rd. After much troubleshooting, restoring, chat conversations with Apple support and then finally having my phone replaced under warranty at the Apple store where the Genius did say he had a few people complain about the same thing, I still had the problem. I knew it was related to iCloud so I started doing some testing. After all the initial troubleshooting I had done based on recommendations here and on other discussions I had ended up with my iCloud account active on two computers and one iPhone. I narrowed it down to the problem coming from my MacBook Pro, when I put my Mac Mini to sleep the data drain kept going when I would put my MBP to sleep it would stop. Then I disabled each item in iCloud one at a time and waited about 5 min in between each, re-enableing if the drain did not go away. In my case when I disabled Notes my data drain stopped. I do use Notes extensively and had quite a large number of them. I left notes off for a couple days and left both my Mac Mini and MBP running and monitored my cellular data use periodically disabling WiFi and did not have the Documents & Sync data drain. I then re-enabled notes syncing and still have yet to have the data drain. I am sure this won't be the case for everyone but it is something to look at. At the very least figure out if you have one or more offending computers constantly syncing data to iCloud causing your phone to then constantly sync.

My takeaways. I agree with many of you that this is not acceptable and if any service uses cellular data then it should have an option to disable its use. Unfortunately with so many different possible combinations of uses there is no way to test every possible one however Apple could be better about taking feedback and creating fixes. I did call AT&T and they are waiving my data overages so while I am sure if you don't call they are happy to take your money the wireless carriers do seem willing to waive it if you tell them that it is caused by a problem on the device.

Hope this can help someone else.

The Notes App was not open or running in the background on my phone nor was it running on the computer and Cellular data was disabled for the Notes App. Unfortunately it would seem that the syncing of Notes data has been moved from the app itself to the system as part of iCloud.