Documents and Sync Bug

Question

Level 2

393 points

Documents and Sync Bug

I think we need a breakdown for the System Services cellular usage... after I have been affected by this bug..

Over night my iPhone 5s battery running iOS 8.4.1. has used 3% from 100% fully charged and cellular data used 117MB for Documents and Sync under System Services, that is 23% of 512MB data that I have in a month gone in just about 8 hours and I have 30 days left on my plan... This is the first time I have such issues, I believe it is the new apps that I have such as Line and Pacman256 😝. I have turned off pretty much everything that I can see that says mobile data use.. but System Services has been a MASSIVE drain every month ever since the Apple Watch. Honestly 2.8MB from Game Centre in just a day is just atrocious, and also Time and Location? way too much data usage. Especially most carriers around the world adopt an upload / download counting method, effectively 512MB is not usable as the upload probably is about 100MB or more. I'll have to see the bill at the end of this month to see at what time this occurred.

It would be great to see which apps actually used it... the Apple Watch was running at the same time.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4

Posted on Aug 25, 2015 12:05 PM

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Answer 1

N4PST3R.

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2015 12:08 PM in response to Memiehic

did you checked what is using the data and shut it down ? i think its in setting - cellular

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Answer 2

Aug 25, 2015 12:08 PM in response to Memiehic

Go to Settings/Cellular. It shows how much data each app used since last resetting the usage counter.

Why don't you leave your phone plugged in overnight? That will allow it to use WiFi instead of cellular data, it enables automatic daily iCloud backup, and it guarantees that your battery will be at 100% when you get up in the morning.

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Answer 3

Memiehic Author

Level 2

393 points

Aug 25, 2015 12:40 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

All the apps shows small usage. Only System Services shows 98% of the usage so far. Current Period 119MB, System Services is 117MB. Of which Documents and Sync is 110MB. And the blastered iTunes Accounts 2.6MB, Game Centrer 2.9MB...

The 3% drain i am refeering to, means the iPhone was active a lot over night, it usually doesn't do that, and since it used cellular data it means things has happened. I don't use charging via the wall, backup is done to iTunes. My home internet is also not unlimited 😝

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Answer 4

Aug 25, 2015 12:46 PM in response to Memiehic

Last monday I had a similar issue. I lost about 180MB mobile data. The data usage screen did not show which app caused the huge data usage.

According my telecom provider, it was a large upload from my Iphone 5s. IOS 8.4, like it made a backup to iCloud.

according the settings, an Iphone should only back up, when connected to a wifi network.

It started 6:10 AM, when I turned my Iphone from flight modus to normal modus, while I was within the range of my wifi network. the upload continued till 9:00 AM when I reached my mobile data limit.

Last weekend, Apple came with an IOS update. Could this problem have a relation with this last update?

For now, I have switchen off iCloud drive on my Iphone, to prevent future huge uploads.

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Answer 5

Aug 25, 2015 12:49 PM in response to Memiehic

When did you last reset statistics? That is, over what time period did System Services use that 117 MB? Document and Data means essentially iCloud; you have apps that are storing information in iCloud. If you have iCloud photos enabled every photo you take is synced to iCloud. As this is a new feature you would not have seen it before.

3% is very little drain. If you check Settings/General/Usage - Battery Usage which apps were using energy?

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Answer 6

Aug 25, 2015 12:52 PM in response to van.middendorp

van.middendorp wrote:

Last monday I had a similar issue. I lost about 180MB mobile data. The data usage screen did not show which app caused the huge data usage.

According my telecom provider, it was a large upload from my Iphone 5s. IOS 8.4, like it made a backup to iCloud.

according the settings, an Iphone should only back up, when connected to a wifi network.

It started 6:10 AM, when I turned my Iphone from flight modus to normal modus, while I was within the range of my wifi network. the upload continued till 9:00 AM when I reached my mobile data limit.

Last weekend, Apple came with an IOS update. Could this problem have a relation with this last update?

For now, I have switchen off iCloud drive on my Iphone, to prevent future huge uploads.

Being within range of your WiFi network does not guarantee the phone will use WiFi. In fact, it will not unless the phone is in use or is connected to power. WiFi is turned off when the phone goes to sleep to preserve battery. The change with the latest update is iCloud Photos. It will upload all of your photos if you have turned this feature on.

As I mentioned above, go to Settings/Cellular and you can see how much data each app has used since you last reset the statistics.

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Answer 7

Aug 25, 2015 1:00 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks for the reply,

I reset my cellular data usage every month, to keep track of my usage. The funny thing is, when I check the data usage of each app and the system data sage, I had a difference of about 180MB between the total usage and the apps and system usage. Excactly the amount of the lost cellular data.

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Answer 8

Memiehic Author

Level 2

393 points

Aug 26, 2015 1:05 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

3% is kinda normal because I had bluetooth opened. If I don't have bluetooth opened, just low signal 3G, then it would only use about 2% or even just 1% over night.

I reset the same day when my plan started fresh, and my carrier's usage also shows 125MB just an hour ago.

I have majority of things disabled (there might be more...), "Use Mobile Data" is switched off for iCloud Drive setting, and no apps in there are allowed to use iCloud Drive. Mail settings are all manual, no automatic at all. I do have Text Forwarding on, but I did not receive any iMessage or SMS during this time.

A restart stopped the cellular data drain to normal levels... this morning I have LINE the chat program, PACMAN256, and some other apple apps open.

Although I am not really sure why Game Center / ITunes Accounts are using A LOT OF DATA... right now I have played PACMAN256 frequently, and Game Center already used 4.5MB in 2 days... I also have AppStore turned off for cellular data use, and iTunes Accounts still uses 3.8MB in 2 days...

The only thing that should be allowed to use a lot of data is Push Notification.

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Answer 9

Memiehic Author

Level 2

393 points

Aug 26, 2015 12:02 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Document and Data means essentially iCloud; you have apps that are storing information in iCloud.

And this is precisely why I want Documents and Sync to have an in depth account for every app that is using it.

Also over night battery is 98% from 100% with bluetooth turned on. iTunes Accounts / Game Center did not use any data. It seems they only use cellular data while you are using an app, Unfortunately 1 of my games requires cellular data. Also I think this bug presents it self over time as well. Weekly restarts of iOS might be prudent 😝. And on my previous iPhones I have experienced battery drains, that is why It would also be good to have an all close button for apps. Sure I could put the phone on Airplane mode when I go to sleep hahaha, but meh.

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Answer 10

Aug 26, 2015 12:29 PM in response to Memiehic

There is nothing unusual about losing 2% overnight. Standby time per the specifications is 250 hours. One night is 12 hours. That means that standby alone, if nothing else used power, would lose 4.8% overnight. Even if you are a night owl and consider a night to be 8 hours, that's 3.2% as the expected overnight usage for standby alone. So your phone is performing better than what Apple claims for it.

Turning off Bluetooth will make no measurable difference in battery usage unless there is a Bluetooth device connected. Turning off WiFi will make no measurable difference either, because the phone automatically turns off WiFi when it is asleep.

And the battery gauge is not accurate at the 1-5% range. It's like a gas gauge in your car; it is an approximation. So there is no statistical difference between 1%, 2%, 3%, or 4%.

However all of this is not important; you should be leaving it plugged in overnight. It's better for the phone, and it allows automatic iCloud backup.

ADDENDUM: Cellular data is not using much, if anything. It is the largest single user of power; and will drain the battery about 3% per minute. So if you are only using 2% overnight you are not using any cellular data, or at least much less than 1 minute's worth.

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Answer 11

Memiehic Author

Level 2

393 points

Aug 28, 2015 1:14 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I don't like iCloud backup, as it does not work 100%. it cannot restore all data is a fast manner compared to iTunes backup where all my apps / music / books / videos contents are roaring to go on my drive. Not to mention it also downloads all the data.. and if you have GB of stuff from Apple like videos it'll take a long time depending on your.

It remains, there is a bug somewhere causes the Documents and Sync uses bucket loads of data and can happen if the iPhone is turned on for weeks and apps are not closed. And it just randomly consumed my cellular data. And I don't like plugging things in over night either, I understand iPhone will stop charging and discharge and charge again. But Meh not a big fan.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

ADDENDUM: Cellular data is not using much, if anything. It is the largest single user of power; and will drain the battery about 3% per minute. So if you are only using 2% overnight you are not using any cellular data, or at least much less than 1 minute's worth.

2% overnight it didn't use any data, but 3% means something did use it. But whatever is the case, It did use over 110 MB data over night...

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Answer 12

Aug 28, 2015 2:46 AM in response to Memiehic

If I move all of our data to SharePoint under the "Shared Documents" and sync that with ... does each user have to sync SharePoint to their OWN ... in our forum. http://www.trainingintambaram.in/php-training-in-chennai.html | http://www.trainingintambaram.in/web-designing-training-in-chennai.html

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Answer 13

rborge

Level 1

8 points

Sep 13, 2015 3:27 AM in response to Memiehic

HI,

not sure if it will work in your case. I did have similar problem where Documents and Sync used 845MB of total 905MB Celluar data. While checking in setting I found that cellular data can be turned off for Documnets and Sync. It is in Settings> iCloud > iCloud Drive > Use Cellular Data.

SInce it turning it off I am seeing cellular data usage is reduced.

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Answer 14

Memiehic Author

Level 2

393 points

Sep 14, 2015 11:26 AM in response to rborge

Hi,

I have this setting turned off, I typically turn off anything related to mobile data in an OCD fashion 😝, Since I only have realistically ~330MB "download" data, since Upload is also counted for a total of "fake" 512MB, 512MB cannot be used fully because most typical actions I do involves me asking for short bursts of data.

I have not experienced any issues before or after this event, and my Carrier (Optus) did a run around for 3 times (and ask me to go into a store) and did not help me remove the data which I think is caused by the iOS 8.4.1 and the offending apps like those I have mentioned.

In the outset I have told them I have disabled everything to do with mobile data, but they don't believe me. 😝 I Geneniuly believes this is a weird bug that cost me 20% of my data in just 3 days.

Furthermore, I have also found that the offending download streams (based on carriers report) appears to have happened during the time I was playing Pacman 256, and not during when I am sleeping!!!! And I have said Pacman 256 did not had any data but only Documents and Sync, in which ICloud drive is completely turned off, with no "Mobile Data" use switch on.

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