iPhone 6 eating up data

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

hi I am new to iPhone. I use wifi where I can but in my first month with iPhone it is eating data like crazy. Do I have to turn off cellular every time I am on wifi? I hardly ever stream a video or music. Mainly use FB ...email...and surf web....with my s4 I never came close to using up my data. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for any advice.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

You shouldn't have to turn off cellular when on WiFi. FaceBook, which you mention using, is a known data hog and can use up large amounts of data while running the background. It's recommended that you force close the app whenever you're not using it. You can do it by double clicking the home button and swiping up on the thumbnail image above the app icon.
Try this and see if it makes a difference in your data use.

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

scifan57 said:
You shouldn't have to turn off cellular when on WiFi. FaceBook, which you mention using, is a known data hog and can use up large amounts of data while running the background. It's recommended that you force close the app whenever you're not using it. You can do it by double clicking the home button and swiping up on the thumbnail image above the app icon.
Try this and see if it makes a difference in your data use.

I always turn off all apps when not using them that is why I am so confused as to the sudden spike in data usage.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

If you go to Settings>General>Usage>Battery Usage, you can check if anything is using an unusually high percentage of your total battery use. This may give you clues to track down the offending app.

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

scifan57 said:
If you go to Settings>General>Usage>Battery Usage, you can check if anything is using an unusually high percentage of your total battery use. This may give you clues to track down the offending app.

FB 24% safari 18% bat. I know from looking at app usage that FB and Safari are the main users but I have not changed my data habits at all since leaving the S4 for the IPhone. And the real kicker here is I am just past half way in my billing period.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

Go to Settings>Cellular and scroll down the page until you get to the list of apps that are using cellular data. It shows exactly how much data has been used by each app during the current period.
You should see a list that looks like this.

You can turn off cellular data for the biggest users to see if that makes a difference.

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

scifan57 said:
Go to Settings>Cellular and scroll down the page until you get to the list of apps that are using cellular data. It shows exactly how much data has been used by each app during the current period.
You should see a list that looks like this. View attachment 18180
You can turn off cellular data for the biggest users to see if that makes a difference.

I've already done that and it almost defeats have an app if it's turned off. FB and Safari are definitely the problem but like I say I am half way in my billing period and am not surfing any more than I ever did on the S4....it's a mystery

J. A. · Feb 2, 2015

If you use iCloud Drive, disable cellular data for this feature. This can be done in Settings - iCloud - iCloud Drive - Use Cellular Data: disable this.

If Use Cellular Data is enabled in Settings - iTunes & App Store, turn this off as well. Depending on your settings there, it would automatically upload music, update apps, ... iTunes Match will also need your cellular data if it's enabled there.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

Iphone6Stl said:
I've already done that and it almost defeats have an app if it's turned off. FB and Safari are definitely the problem but like I say I am half way in my billing period and am not surfing any more than I ever did on the S4....it's a mystery

You may not be using those apps any more than before, but they're definitely using more data than they were.

You could consider deleting your FaceBook app and reinstalling it as well as clearing your browsing history and closing your open tabs in Safari to see if that helps. Your FaceBook account data is held on the FaceBook servers so deleting the app won't cause you to lose any data.

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

scifan57 said:
You may not be using those apps any more than before, but they're definitely using more data than they were.

You could consider deleting your FaceBook app and reinstalling it as well as clearing your browsing history and closing your open tabs in Safari to see if that helps. Your FaceBook account data is held on the FaceBook servers so deleting the app won't cause you to lose any data.

As a last resort I will delete the FB app but I am just plain stumped as to what has caused this. My new plan even came with an extra gig (4 total) and I never do vids or music and it's only half way in my billing period. Took me many years to switch to Apple and was loving my new phone till this happened.

Pinkpoison · Feb 2, 2015

Your new iPhone comes with 90 days of free phone support from Apple so if you are still within that period give them a ring and see if they can help.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

It could possibly be a corrupted app file that's causing the abnormal data use. That's one of the reasons I suggested deleting and re-downloading the app as a final suggestion.

scifan57 · Feb 2, 2015

Poisonivy said:
Your new iPhone comes with 90 days of free phone support from Apple so if you are still within that period give them a ring and see if they can help.

I should have thought of that earlier. Thanks for the post, Poisonivy.
In addition, if you purchased AppleCare+, the free telephone technical support is extended to two years.

Iphone6Stl · Feb 2, 2015

scifan57 said:
I should have thought of that earlier. Thanks for the post, Poisonivy.
In addition, if you purchased AppleCare+, the free telephone technical support is extended to two years.

So uninstall FB and Reinstall. Will try that but how will I know if it's corrupted?