Problems solved.
my iPhone 6 has no more issues.
my iPad Air 2 has no more issues - but I lost all of my books and notes on iAnnotate. I had to manually transfer all of my PDF textbooks from my Mac Book Pro using Air Drop which did not have any of the edits from reading/studying these on my iPad these past 6 months. Very disappointing.
Here is how I resolved everything:
In General Settings:
turned off "Handoff and Suggested Apps"
turned off "iTunes Wi-Fi Sync"
In Privacy:
turned off "Location Services"
in iCloud:
Turned off "iCloud Drive"
Turned off "Photos"
Turned off "Backup"
Turned off "Keychain"
Turned off "Find my iPad"
I left on: "Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Safari and Notes"
in App & iTunes Stores:
Turned off "Automatic Downloads" for everything
in "News" App: Off
In essence, I had to tell my iPad to stop connecting and searching for Apple's iCloud features that are supposedly built to "help me", but in actuality are meant for Apple to collect my data to sell and market to me. Just like Windows, they are not happy we bought their devices: they want more of our money. Greedy buggers.
my iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 do everything manually via USB Cable when I feel like doing them and only when I push them. I am in control of my devices again, the ones I shelled out mucho bucks. They are my devices, Apple. I bought them. Keep your paws off of them