"Documents & Sync" - 80% of my iPhone Cellular usage!?

[JohnOCFII]

Is everyone here that's having this issue using iCloud for email, calendars and contacts? What about Photos, Notes, and iCloud Drive?

Yes -- but the answer gets tricky as iCloud usage for some apps can be separately controlled for WiFi vs. Cellular usage. So, for example, iCloud Photos is turned on but under Cellular I have Photos turned off. I also have iCloud Drive turned off in cellular.

This is why the problem seems to confusing to troubleshoot, as I think we are seeing Documents & Sync traffic related to apps that we've turned off elsewhere in settings, but that somehow are allowed to do certain activities over Cellular that don't show usage tied to the app, but instead lump it into this nebulous bucket called Documents & Sync which is very difficult to analyze.

 

[Felicity Hildebrand]

That's amazing! I logged out, and I'm going to update my phone and double check all my settings before logging back in. Here's to hoping!!!

 

[JohnOCFII]

It has been another 10 days, and I'm happy to report that the cellular data usage from Documents & Settings has averaged 4 mb/day on the days when I've left the house -- even on days when I've been away from Wi-Fi for 3-4 hours at a time.

 

[Felicity Hildebrand]

Well, it's been 3-4 days since logging out and back in, and I'm only at 54mb, so here's to hoping! I turned a lot off to be sure, I'm not allowing any background updates or refresh, even off data, just to be safe with the dumb documents and sync.
But if this is fixed, then I'm so relieved!!! Thank you!

I did leave off my icloud drive. I just can't afford any risks, but its a huge improvement!!!

 

[Felicity Hildebrand]

It seems to be fixed! THANK YOU!

 

[JohnOCFII]

It seems to be fixed! THANK YOU!

Glad to hear! My phone's Documents & Sync has continued to be well-behaved as well. I'm averaging 5 mb a day over the last 40 days or so. I can handle that. Once I start traveling for work again, I expect my overall usage will increase, and that'll likely increase more of that background usage in Documents & Sync but I think I've gotten pretty comfortable with the levers available to control it.

I still do wish Apple was more forthcoming about this category of cellular usage that is pretty opaque to the phone user.

 

[grantegarner]

I was having the same issue with my iPhone and cellular data. In this case, after reviewing this thread, I noticed that I also had multiple devices logged in to iCloud. After logging out of iCloud on my iPad, restarting the device, and logging back in, the issue went away on my iPhone. Apparently the iPad was the culprit even though it was only manifesting on the cellular data of my iPhone.

 

[JohnOCFII]

Unbelievable! I was out of the house for 4 hours today. Rarely looked at my phone. Documents & Sync increased by 368MB! I did take 5 photos on my iPhone 12 while out and about. I wonder if that was it, even though the setting under Photos for Cellular Data is turned off? Of course, those 5 photos averaged 2MB each, so I don't know what in the world generated 368MB of data.

Only positive is that it has been many months since I've seen unexplained usage like that.

 

[zoor]

Unbelievable! I was out of the house for 4 hours today. Rarely looked at my phone. Documents & Sync increased by 368MB! I did take 5 photos on my iPhone 12 while out and about. I wonder if that was it, even though the setting under Photos for Cellular Data is turned off? Of course, those 5 photos averaged 2MB each, so I don't know what in the world generated 368MB of data.

Only positive is that it has been many months since I've seen unexplained usage like that.

Weird, the same happened to me last weekend - 1,5 GB Documents & Sync in a few hours - after months without issues.
Even the device performance dropped (lags) and the battery drain was immense.
„Low Power Mode“ seems to prevent the issue, so I always activate it.

 

[Micka88]

Having the same dreadful problem, I would like to ask - why this is happening and is there no way to stop it ? Is Apple crazy ? Why there is no setting just - stop doing any background data process while on mobile data ?? Just easy and natural it would be ?

Did you solve it and found the reason ?

 

[JohnOCFII]

Having the same dreadful problem, I would like to ask - why this is happening and is there no way to stop it ? Is Apple crazy ? Why there is no setting just - stop doing any background data process while on mobile data ?? Just easy and natural it would be ?

Did you solve it and found the reason ?

I think it is safe to say we have not found the reason this occurs. I have to believe the reason it doesn't get much attention is that in many parts of the world, including the US, unlimited data plans are common, and therefore, this issue doesn't get much attention, as it doesn't impact the monthly cost of cellular service for many iPhone users.

To date, the most effective tools, other than turning off all cellular data is to do three things:
1) Log out of iCloud (and then log back in) on ALL devices using the same iCloud account (Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc.)
2) Turn off cellular data usage individually for all applications where you know cellular data usage isn't needed. Or - turn it off for every one of your applications, and turn them back on only when needed.
3) Make sure that every Apple App that has separate controls for doing activity over cellular and WiFi has been configured to ONLY do network activity over WiFi (again, unless you knowingly want/need it to work over cellular).

 

[GTimG]

I think it is safe to say we have not found the reason this occurs. I have to believe the reason it doesn't get much attention is that in many parts of the world, including the US, unlimited data plans are common, and therefore, this issue doesn't get much attention, as it doesn't impact the monthly cost of cellular service for many iPhone users.

To date, the most effective tools, other than turning off all cellular data is to do three things:
1) Log out of iCloud (and then log back in) on ALL devices using the same iCloud account (Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc.)
2) Turn off cellular data usage individually for all applications where you know cellular data usage isn't needed. Or - turn it off for every one of your applications, and turn them back on only when needed.
3) Make sure that every Apple App that has separate controls for doing activity over cellular and WiFi has been configured to ONLY do network activity over WiFi (again, unless you knowingly want/need it to work over cellular).

I just came across this thread yesterday, tried out 1) and it just worked! Thank you very much, my father has been having this problem for months.

 

[JohnOCFII]

Saturday was the end of a cellular billing month for me. Sadly, it was ugly, and I feel like I'm back to where I started. My total cellular usage was 1.9GB. Of that, 74% or 1.4GB was in the bucket of Documents & Sync. . Unlike a few months over the last six, I don't have any clues as to what made up that data.

 

[pollefinario]

Been Reading through the thread, having the same issues.
John, did you try the option “low power mode” yet? As a comment was made by @zoor this could help. Cheers!

 

[mathpunk]

Saturday was the end of a cellular billing month for me. Sadly, it was ugly, and I feel like I'm back to where I started. My total cellular usage was 1.9GB. Of that, 74% or 1.4GB was in the bucket of Documents & Sync. . Unlike a few months over the last six, I don't have any clues as to what made up that data.

I am having the same issue here with my wife's iPhone on our shared data plan. My phone is fine, her phone burns through data at an insane rate for no apparent reason. Tonight I am going to try reseting her phone and iPad as new and see how it goes. I wonder if there is something to the issue you noted earlier of the iPad and iPhone in some sort of sync death loop?

 

[JohnOCFII]

Been Reading through the thread, having the same issues.
John, did you try the option “low power mode” yet? As a comment was made by @zoor this could help. Cheers!

That is one thing I have not tried (other than on rare occasions when my phone has shifted to low power mode when my battery was really low). I can try this.

FYI -- out of the house for one 90 minute trip today. Documents & Sync used 534 MB of data. SO frustrating. I mean, if I downloaded and opened a Microsoft PowerPoint attachment, and it was that large, but if it were associated with PowerPoint, I would not be upset. I'd know how to control it. This black hole of Documents & Sync is really annoying.

I did just receive a new iPad. I set it up from scratch. It'll be really curious if when I wipe and sell the old iPad I see the Documents & Sync usage drop to a normal amount...

 

[yegon]

Been having this exact problem this past week and I'm yet to resolve it. Seems to have coincided with the arrival of my new iPad 12.9", and the retiring of my old 2018 (now completely erased, removed from iCloud account).

Thanks for the thread, I've skim read it from the beginning. Sorry to hear you're experiencing it again after all this time OP.

 

[JohnOCFII]

Been Reading through the thread, having the same issues.
John, did you try the option “low power mode” yet? As a comment was made by @zoor this could help. Cheers!

Thanks for the suggestion. I did set the low power mode on a couple of trips out of WiFi range, and it seemed to keep usage low. Now I just need to build the habit to do it all the time when out of the house (and / or when I don't want to be pinged by emails, etc.).

 

[pollefinario]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did set the low power mode on a couple of trips out of WiFi range, and it seemed to keep usage low. Now I just need to build the habit to do it all the time when out of the house (and / or when I don't want to be pinged by emails, etc.).

Good to hear!
Whilst for me.. I've tried the same over last few days. But I don't think it is working for me. Did 200mb in a couple of hours...
If only there was a third party app to monitor data usage in more detail...
Interested to know if the Low Power modes keeps working for you!

 

[JohnOCFII]

Sigh -- 486 MB used yesterday, all but 12MB in Documents & Sync.
I had remembered to use Low Power Mode on two of the 3 trips. And I didn't check between trips, so not sure when the data usage spiked. Sigh. Already at 1.2 GB of Documents & Sync usage and I've got another 21 days in my cellular billing month.

 

[yegon]

Seems mine uses lots of mobile data for documents and sync when charging but NOT connected to wifi. It’d be easier to diagnose if it wasn’t the mystery box of documents and sync, bah! I’ve methodically tried all variations of disabling different elements of iCloud one at a time but alas, cannot pin it down.

I’ve renewed my effort in trying to resolve it today particularly as my data renews tomorrow. I’ve got about 8gb left of my 50gb so I don’t care what gets burnt away today. I’ve been easily caning about 600mb a day just to this data hog for the last 12 days or so. Low power mode does appear to resolve it, but I’d rather not HAVE to use it. I’ve got an 11 Pro, rarely hits lower than 50% after a day of my usage (normally, prior to this), so I don’t need to use low power mode otherwise. GAH!!

Funnily enough, EE (my carrier) have starting spamming me about unlimited data for another £10 a month. I don’t need it, 50gb is easily enough across my iPhone and iPad, which I share it with.

 

[d-klumpp]

Well the CloudKit reset didn't seem to do much. I was out of the house for 90 minutes yesterday, and Documents & Sync slurped through another 411 MB of cellular data! Frustrating.

Would doing a complete "Erase All Contents and Settings" and trying to set the phone up from scratch help? When I moved to this iPhone 12 mini from an iPhone 8, I did a fairly standard backup of the 8 migration to the 12 mini.

While that'd be a hassle, I'd do it if it would clear up this issue. Of course, I'd be logging back in to the same iCloud account, so I worry that all this is related to iCloud syncing, or other Apple "behind the scenes" syncing, and nothing would really improve...

Hi, John!

For the last couple months I've been experiencing the same problem that you did/are on my iPhone 12Pro, and it's causing a first-world "crisis" on my 6GB data plan. Did you ever find a cause or, better, a solution? I just checked with a colleague (and my wife and her son), and everyone else has Documents & Sync as a paltry amount of their overall data usage, whereas it's killing me at 57% of my total data usage.

Now using the DataMan widget to constantly monitor usage, I find a 4% usage in one day with almost nothing running and spending all my time at work and at home on WiFi -- I don't even have any notoriously data-hungry apps on my phone or stream videos, and I'm anti-social media! I do listen to NPR on a local app (WBEZ) during my bike commuting and fitness rides 1-3hr/day, but the WBEZ app usage is currently at 430MB compared to 1.8GB for Docs&Sync.

Any updates on a fix would be appreciated. Otherwise, I'll schedule a Genius appointment and cross my fingers it's not a total waste of time. I don't want to give AT&T more of my $$$ when this was never previously an issue.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Dosum85]

Over the past year, my cellular usage has been rising unexpectedly. When I investigate, I find most of it in the area of "System Services --> Documents & Sync." This month, when I've turned off almost everything that uses Cellular service, it is 80% of my cellular usage! Is there any way to determine what makes up that category of usage?

Currently running iOS 14.2 on iPhone 12 mini, previously on iPhone 8, but has been on all released iOS versions in the last year (I've not run Beta iOS in this time).

It is hard to control that which you cannot monitor...

For additional info, I've turned off the following:

- Most apps are turned off in the Cellular menu (and those that are on show their usage clearly)
- Wi-Fi Assist is off
- iCloud Drive is off
- iCloud Backup is Wi-Fi only
- iCloud Keychain is ON (could this be generating that much data?)
- Personal Hotspot is off
- Handoff is off
- Background App Refresh is set to Wi-Fi
- Automatic Downloads are OFF for cellular
- App Store video auto-play is set to Wi-Fi only
- Mail IS allowed over cellular, but set to Fetch every 30 minutes. I have two mail accounts (Office 365 and Gmail)
- In Music - Cellular Data is OFF
- In TV - Cellular Data is OFF
- In Photos - iCloud Photos is ON, but Cellular Data is OFF
- In Books - Cellular Data is OFF
- In Podcasts - Cellular Data is OFF
- In iTunes U - Cellular Data is OFF

Those are all the settings I could see.

Love to hear ideas on what could be causing so much cellular data to be consumed by the "Documents & Sync" category.

Thanks,

John

I was having the same issue and after doing all of these things with no luck, I found a way that worked for me. It was as simple as turn off contacts in the iCloud menu

 

[kndjckt]

I have the same issue.

The only additional data point I have is that I recently changed network provider. I'll follow up with them and apple to see if I can gather any more info that might help solve this.

 

[JohnOCFII]

I was having the same issue and after doing all of these things with no luck, I found a way that worked for me. It was as simple as turn off contacts in the iCloud menu

Well - I'd guess that Contact syncing is certainly something that would fit in the category of Documents & Sync. Interestingly, I find Contact syncing to be sporadic at best... I'll have to take a look at that setting. I Do already have Documents turned off in Cellular, but my best guess to date is that somehow iCloud syncing is ignoring the Do not use Cellular setting.