Cellular data on your iOS devices lets you use the Internet wirelessly without a Wi-Fi connection. Most carriers offer limited data plans. iPhones and cellular iPad models come with data plans. And most people are on limited plans. Thus it is a good idea to keep an eye on your cellular data use. Luckily iOS 8 offers great features to track and limit cellular data usage. You can do a few things in order to monitor and limit your data in the future. Here is what you can do.
Although we started the article with iOS 8, you can use the settings for iOS 9 and iOS 10 as well. We have updated th post with additional tips.
Manage Cellular Data Settings on the iPhone
1. First figure out how much data you are using. To view this, tab Settings > Cellular. What you may want to do is reset (scroll all the way down) these usage statistics monthly, so you can see your monthly data use.
2.You may view cellular data use for your apps by going to Settings > Cellular. For each app that is installed on your device, you may turn off or on cellular data so you can control what apps have access to cellular data.
Further, some of your apps may use push notifications (e.g. badges, sounds or custom text alerts) that may use cellular data. Even though each notification is limited to a maximum size of 256 byte, you may still want to turn off push notifications by going to Settings > Notifications.
3. Disable Background App Refresh (this will also help you save battery life). Simply tap Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
4. Disable cellular data for automatic downloads.Simply tap Settings > iTunes & App Store > and tap the Use Cellular Data switch to turn off.
5. Disable cellular data for Safari‘s reading list. Simply tap Settings > Safari > Use Cellular Data > OFF.
6. Disable cellular data for iBooks by going to Settings > iBooks > Use Cellular Data
7. Disable cellular data for iCloud Drive by going to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Use Cellular Data
8. Turn off data roaming by going to Settings > Cellular > Data Roaming
9. You may want to completely turn off cellular data. Simply tap Settings > Cellular on your iPhone or Settings > Cellular Data on your iPad. When cellular data is off, you can’t use (a ) personal hotspot and (b) MMS text messages. You may browse the Internet or check your mail over Wi-Fi.
Related: How to view & adjust your cellular data use on your iPhone & iPad
Please explore our in-depth video tutorial to help you with these settings and more by checking out our video below.
For our readers who recently updated to the latest iOS 9.3 versions, please make sure to double check the wi-fi assist setting. Upon upgrading, many users found that the upgrade changed this setting to ON by default. In order to check this tap on Settings > Cellular > and scroll down to the bottom to locate Wi-Fi Assist option.
Please let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or any additional tips to share.
My wife just got her new iPhone 6 (Verizon/ ios 8.02) a few weeks ago, and despite no change in her browsing/streaming behavior from when she had the 4S, the new phone is gobbling up data at an unsustainable rate. She turned off everything cellular on her phone to the point that it’s inconvenient, she connects to wifi at work and at home, and still we are seeing a very strange pattern in data usage. According to data usage analysis on the Verizon wireless website, at 3:50 and 9:50 – both AM and PM – her phone is using between 30MB and 75MB of plan data. At 3:50AM she is sleeping at home with her phone connected to wifi. We are desperately trying to narrow down the culprit source of data usage. Does iCloud synchronize every 6 hours? Could it be the offender? Why would it prefer to use our data allowance rather than wifi when she is on wifi? If iCloud is the problem – how do we go about changing its behavior? Does wifi hibernate at 3:50AM when she is sleeping? Her iPhone 4S did not have this problem. Help us – we are desperate!! P.S. – we’ve seen a similar situation in the Apple Support Communities forum. I’ll post a link separately in case there is a problem. Thanks!
Here is the related Apple Support Community thread link, if linking is permitted here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6542316?start=0&tstart=0
Thanks again.
Go to settings>cellular>system services and see what’s using all the data. I got a new iphone 6 and it went berzerk using data while connected to wifi and even when I toggled cellular data to off. It said Voicemail used 700 MB in 30 minutes. My 5S had used 1.2 MB for Voicemail in a month. Apple told me to come in the store and they gave me a new phone and it’s fine. They said it was probably a faulty operating system.
Mine has been doing the same thing and using 18GB a month!
I don’t know what’s wrong with my phone!
With the ios 8 update there have been new apps added to the market to watch data. One that I am trying, which has a good rating, is My Data Manager. If you search data usage into the app store, you can find it.
It is my first time using iPhone and surprised that such an expensive phone doesn’t come with a built in tool to manage data usage! not very smart.
This is complete B.S. from Apple. Typical crap that you get with unintended consequences. Apple is WELL AWARE of the problem with the data usage, yet you never get any kind of straight answer from Apple or cell phone carriers about data usage.
Why are there thousands of complaints about data usage, and yet you have to search message board, upon message board in an attempt to find an answer. Then when you do find answers it’s crap like this “well if you turn off all these services that are on your phone then it shouldn’t eat up your data”. REALLY? One, I had to search for this and two, if you KNOW there is an issue why not do something to prevent it in the first place.
Simple, your response to customer complaints absolutely SUCKS. And not just from a few customers here and there. Glad my daughter is dealing with your piece of crap and not me.
So this brand new iPhone 6 does not let you turn off the data when it hits a limit you set. I should have gotten my son another Samsung or windows phone as they both let you do so.
Incredible. I just yelled at my daughter last night because she had used so much data on her iPhone 6 this month. I was very angry she didn’t use the “data warning” that SURELY would be in the iPhone 6 capabilities. Such a thing has been available on Android phones since…. wow…. 4 years ago or more??? Is Apple really that far behind on such a very simple, very import, consumer item? I can understand why Apple may not copy some Android features, but for heaven’s sake, data usage is a direct consumer burden due to cost. You’d think such a “user-minded” company would have started off with a user-protective feature like warnings when approaching an entered limit.
I guess I have to apologize to my daughter and then help her go get an app (hopefully free) that will let her set warnings on her piece of crap iPhone 6. Incredible.
So true. Can’t believe iphone doesn’t have this!
Our plan has 3 iPhone6, and we too have seen our data use go up. Called provider and they said that i6 bounces back and forth between cell and wifi. Recommended that we manually turn off cell data when wifi is available. I wish that Apple would fix the bouncing back and forth or is it the provider that set the phone to bounce? Looking back when got upgrade the provider rep asked if wanted to up our data. SMH
This is why I hate Apple. Every other company allows you to set a mobile data limit. Really!!!! We have to go to multiple spots so crap that comes with the phone stops eating your data???? Grow a brain Apple and catch up
Thanks, this solution fixed my data problem!! I read & apply this 8hours ago and now I can see a huge change on data consumed today! Thanks
Really? Which solution did you apply? I think we’d all like to know.
After 1 hour and 4 minutes of lifetime usage in 2015 (from 3 pm Wed, 15 Jul – 10 am Tues, 21 Jul), Verizon sent a message that I had consumed 75 percent of my Verizon data plan at level 1.0. I have followed every recommendation in this article, but am not confident that I have succeeded in establishing control. I’ll make an appt with Apple 1-on-1 to discuss !
I to have an iPhone 6 on my plan, 2 Samsung Actives 4&5, LG tablet. I use my tablet as gps & sometimes my Active 4. I started getting text messages of data warning, but it’s none other than the iPhone 6…in 2 days time it has jumped my phone bill $30 bucks for added data…That phone can be sitting next to the wifi box & it’s still gonna use my share data… hopefully it will be gone soon…IT SUCKS
I had tried to convince my wife and kids not buy apple products. Being mindful of data usages we immediatly found the app mentioned above, and setup the plan, but what a piece of crap. Samsung and the android OS is the best in the market today.
If you follow steps 3-8, will it inhibit downloads of new apps? I ask because I’m trying to help my Mother with her iPhone, and when I do the equivalent with my Android phone, I can’t download apps until I un-restrict background processes.
On iPhone 6, you have to make sure wifi assist is turned off. If not the phone will default to you use your cellular data if your wifi connectivity is slower than your carrier’s speed .
Yes! I have read about the wifi assist info (turning it off)and it does work!
I had the same problem for 3 months and tried everything. There is only one fix
Connect your phone to iTunes through PC or Mac / back the phone up and then do a factory reset (this needs to be done like this as the factory reset on the phone doesn’t fully clear the phone) then do a re-install from your back up. It’s the only thing that works
my iphone 5 can’t activate? what should i do? can someone help me fixing this.ADVANCE THANKS FOR THOSE WHO HELP ME 🙂
Ha ha. Iphone6 -same here. Going back to nexus5. Data usage on android is simple to analyze .iOS is too simple for me- however it is hard to use.