Why is my new iPhone 6 using so much data?
April 8, 2016 1:48 PM   Subscribe

Up until two weeks ago I had an iPhone4 and a 1GB data plan, which was just fine for what I do, namely browsing Metafilter and the New York Times. Suddenly upon acquiring a new iPhone 6, I somehow began using large amounts of data. I've already had to upgrade to a 4GB plan in order to avoid extra charges. What happened?

My browsing habits have not changed- I'm not doing data-intensive things like watching videos- and I am baffled as to why the new phone is using so much more data. What could I be doing that could be causing this dramatically increased usage, and is there anything I can do to prevent it?
posted by foxy_hedgehog to Technology (8 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Were you logged into Wifi on your old phone and now you're on LTE? Maybe you have to log in at all your haunts.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:51 PM on April 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


Is it using Wifi assist, while your old one wasn't?
posted by brainmouse at 1:52 PM on April 8, 2016 [9 favorites]


Do you have Background Refresh turned off?
posted by Jacob G at 1:52 PM on April 8, 2016 [6 favorites]


One of the dastardly things I'm aware of is this issue:

http://www.imore.com/how-to-turn-off-wifi-assist-ios-9-iphone

(article may be a touch out of date, but should still enable you to go into settings and turn this feature off)

another thing that happens sometimes with new phones is you unbox it and a lot of updates start occuring either before you can get it on wifi or in the background as you're out and about with it.
posted by randomkeystrike at 1:53 PM on April 8, 2016


I don't have an iPhone, but there are some settings that might tell you what's using your data on older iOS versions.
posted by cnc at 1:53 PM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Settings > Cellular and find the app responsible before you start changing settings at random.
posted by caek at 2:10 PM on April 8, 2016 [7 favorites]


Is it reloading all your iCloud photos from the old phone?
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:12 PM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Looks like OP's in North America, but if anyone from outside the country is reading this thread for their own benefit, the area of Settings to access is "Mobile Data" in some other English-speaking countries, as "Cellular" seems to be a term adopted mainly in North America.

My money is on some syncing of iCloud data, downloaded Apps, etc.

If you go to Settings -> iCloud -> iCloud Drive and scroll all the way down, you can disable (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently, it's up to you) the use of Cellular (or Mobile) data for syncing. If there's a syncing problem that's causing continued cell-data usage, maybe this will nip in in the bud. However, iCloud drive is the culprit at all, it's very likely that the horse is out of the barn, and the data usage probably won't repeat itself. That's also true for pics and other media, as well as apps.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:22 PM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


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