iPhone iOS 9 high general data usage

[cynics]

hello guys, yes. apparently the guilty one here is the new and amazing feature called "WIFI assist" .. so just turn it off and you will save 10´s of gigabytes on cellular.

Apparently not. People are still experiencing the problem with wifi assist off. And of course the VAST majority of people that aren't experiencing any issues have wifi assist on (since its default is on).

This seems pretty typical IMO, after every iOS update there are a few people that experience high data usage. Unfortunately I don't know whats causing the problem.

 

[t12013]

Apparently not. People are still experiencing the problem with wifi assist off. And of course the VAST majority of people that aren't experiencing any issues have wifi assist on (since its default is on).

This seems pretty typical IMO, after every iOS update there are a few people that experience high data usage. Unfortunately I don't know whats causing the problem.

Yes like i said in my post now, it used all my rest of data last night, with wifi assist off and 9.0.2
this cannot be normal, what is the phone doing with 6 gb of data at night ? i wanna cry

 

[Aniseedvan]

I've currently got all mobile data off until my plan rolls over middle of next week. The general usage in my system settings is 402MB.
I've just downloaded the usage for my mifi and the the three days this week I've been away from home it's recording just under 500mB for each day (for both my iPad and iPhone/watch).
I've had a particularly busy day at work today - I've used my iPad to view my OmniFocus tasks, and streamed about 20 minutes of music on the phone, plus using aTimelogger to record my work, waterlogged to record my water intake. Listened to my (already downloaded) audible book for an hour on the way home and that was it.
I never used to use my mifi for the phone and high usage for my iPad was around 100mB for the day.
I'm very worried my 2GB contract just isn't enough, when it should be! Has anyone had any success completely wiping their phone and setting it up from scratch?

 

[Max(IT)]

I wonder if this is area specific. I don't have a "general" under system usage at all...

Me too.

hello guys, yes. apparently the guilty one here is the new and amazing feature called "WIFI assist" .. so just turn it off and you will save 10´s of gigabytes on cellular.

I'd say no. I have it enabled and no issue

And this stupid phone did it again !!!! it used my 6,5 gigabytes in 3 day .. iam soooooo pisseed off i have this s hit phone !!! i want to cry. second month now without internett.

WIFI assis is of course off and running 9.0.2 but last night i got the message that the phone at 05:00 am used my last 1 gigabyte left after using 4gbs on monday night 04:00

Wow, 6.5 Gb in three days ... Must be something related to backups or app updates...

 

[hugoarthur]

Is this not related to use of the "Fetch" email updates on Mail app?

For example, Gmail accounts doesn't accepted "Push" on Mail iOS app, only "Fetch".

 

[kristin r]

Hmm yeah I’m not really sure then. I have Wi-Fi Assist turned off too, but I still have some usage under General.

For me, I’m more surprised by how much Media Services is taking up, given that all the music I listen to on my phone is available offline.

 

[kristin r]

Hmm yeah I’m not really sure then. I have Wi-Fi Assist turned off too, but I still have some usage under General.

For me, I’m more surprised by how much Media Services is taking up, given that all the music I listen to on my phone is available offline.

I'm having the same issues. I'm always around 3-4GB. Last month 8GB and 10 days into new billing cycle I'm at 7.9GB. 6.9 of that is attributed to "Media Services ". I have done nothing different than I've always done, so I'm really confused as to why this is happening now. I called Verizon and didn't get any answers. The only conclusion I've come to is the iOS 9 updates AND Apple Music! I didn't over an hour at the Apple Store trying to get answers as to why I can't access "my music" and still got nowhere. The guy at Verizon really did try to help, but all he could find was a possible correlation between media services and possible Apple Music/iTunes Match. We did subscribe to Apple Music during the trial period and it ended 10/1. But I never really even used it! VERY WEIRD!! I'm seriously very close to saying bye bye to Apple and switching to an Android!!! I can't imagine I'm the only one having these problems.

 

[kristin r]

yep i am not sure if it is a iOS or iPhone 6 thing but i used to have a 1GB plan and i never reached it. nowadays i am always barely missing my upgrated 3GB limit each month for doing nothing special. i dont even stream music on mobile data

I know! In the meantime, we are getting charged for the extra data used. We have a company plan and the data is lumped together and it went over last month to the tune of $600 plus. That's not right. Yet, nobody has any answers except to turn off all your data. I'm sorry, I have a "smartphone" so I can actually use it! Very irritating!!!

 

[mattyu007]

I'm having the same issues. I'm always around 3-4GB. Last month 8GB and 10 days into new billing cycle I'm at 7.9GB. 6.9 of that is attributed to "Media Services ". I have done nothing different than I've always done, so I'm really confused as to why this is happening now. I called Verizon and didn't get any answers. The only conclusion I've come to is the iOS 9 updates AND Apple Music! I didn't over an hour at the Apple Store trying to get answers as to why I can't access "my music" and still got nowhere. The guy at Verizon really did try to help, but all he could find was a possible correlation between media services and possible Apple Music/iTunes Match. We did subscribe to Apple Music during the trial period and it ended 10/1. But I never really even used it! VERY WEIRD!! I'm seriously very close to saying bye bye to Apple and switching to an Android!!! I can't imagine I'm the only one having these problems.

“Media Services” includes streaming music from Apple Music / iCloud Music Library, so if you’re listening to music which was not made “available offline”, that's probably why.

(This means that if you migrated to iCloud Music Library but still listened to the same amount of music without making it available offline, you would have been constantly streaming all your music.)

 

[kristin r]

“Media Services” includes streaming music from Apple Music / iCloud Music Library, so if you’re listening to music which was not made “available offline”, that's probably why.

(This means that if you migrated to iCloud Music Library but still listened to the same amount of music without making it available offline, you would have been constantly streaming all your music.)

Okay...I kind of get that. So, our trial subscription expired 10/1. We did not resubscribe. That would eliminate streaming, right? Sounds like the key is making sure every song I want to listen to (data free) needs to be made available "offline". Is that right? And, if I make my songs available "offline" I don't need to turn on "iCloud music library". Correct?

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple seems to act like everyone has unlimited data now. I've had 6GB of data per month for over 5 years now and I never went over until I got my iPhone 6 (on iOS 8). Now I've been over every single month since.

I think the main culprit is how everything gets booted out of memory so aggressively, and it has to reload everything over and over (tabs in Safari, videos, etc).

I'm hoping it's better on iOS 9. I tried disabling Cellular Data for some apps like Music, and it gives me an annoying message every day or two when I open the Music app that I've turned off cellular data. I can't really think of why it needs it so badly as to be so insisting.

I didn't check music app mobile data use until today, with over 600MB mobile data use.

My "should be enough" 3.5 GB data is already gone 2 weeks ago and now I am purchasing additional data add-on in order to maintain data use.

I have seen a news saying Wifi assist should be turned off. And I have turned it off. Now I turn "music" mobile data use off for this purpose.

I have seen over 800MB "General" data use. Plus, I don't even sign up for Apple Music and iTunes Match.

iOS 9 has some features really unwelcome for limited data allowance users.

 

[hugoarthur]

I've found this solution: https://discussions.apple.com/message/28991863#28991863

Maybe it is an iCloud backup of some app that is using cellular data.

 

[liteshow]

To all those having this issue, why don't you turn off anything associated with cellular data but leave cellular data on. Then making sure data usage isn't bleeding away, turn back on each one by one and observe which is your culprit. I am on 9.0.2 on a 5s, and have most on the list below turned on, but my "General" usage in the last 2 days is only 73 bytes, or 0.073 kbytes, or 0.000073 MB.

Here's an incomplete list of the top of my head for services that could use cellular data:
wifi-assist
Personal hotspot
Notifications
Siri
Background app refresh
Location Services
itunes auto downloads
Apple music
itunes playback
Email & imessage push/fetch notifications

 

[zoher8]

Since updating to iOS 9, I have noticed my data usage is much higher than normal. I looked in Mobile Data usage and found "General" under "System Services" to be extremely high. And because it is "General", I have no idea what is using up this data.

Anyone else experiencing this? Or have any idea how I can stop it?

View attachment 582488

Hi Guys, Here is the solution......
i have been facing the same issue since last 2 months and no answers even in iphone gallery.

After trying and switching off mobile data for all apps except for Email/whatsapp/facebook/gmail app/. I found that data usage in system services-----> general.... stopped completely. But when i switched on 4 apps or system services it started again.
These 4 apps were
1. Wifi and wifi assist.
2. icloud and photo streaming in incloud
3. itunes and apps
4. Linkedin.

I am still researching and have not concluded on my answer yet, but my bet is on icloud and wifi assist.
Turn both of them off. It will sort your problem. Also do revert if you find something new.

 

[rdo]

Settings => General => Background App Refresh (set to off)
Update: 11/4/2015 - did not fix

 

[rafaranaga]

And this stupid phone did it again !!!! it used my 6,5 gigabytes in 3 day .. iam soooooo pisseed off i have this s hit phone !!! i want to cry. second month now without internett.

WIFI assis is of course off and running 9.0.2 but last night i got the message that the phone at 05:00 am used my last 1 gigabyte left after using 4gbs on monday night 04:00

HI! go to whatsapp > chats and calls > chat backup and disable automatic chat backup I think that is it, because apparently it is bypassing the cellular settings. Also check if cellular data on icloud drive is disabled.
...I had the same problem...

 

[I7guy]

Hi Guys, Here is the solution......
i have been facing the same issue since last 2 months and no answers even in iphone gallery.

After trying and switching off mobile data for all apps except for Email/whatsapp/facebook/gmail app/. I found that data usage in system services-----> general.... stopped completely. But when i switched on 4 apps or system services it started again.
These 4 apps were
1. Wifi and wifi assist.
2. icloud and photo streaming in incloud
3. itunes and apps
4. Linkedin.

I am still researching and have not concluded on my answer yet, but my bet is on icloud and wifi assist.
Turn both of them off. It will sort your problem. Also do revert if you find something new.

You must have a bad wifi connection. Wifi assist moves the line in the sand when cellular data kicks in from no wifi to lousy wifi. Do you usually notice when your phone is on 3G due to no wifi prior to wifi assist?

 

[lecithinbrain]

For my case, its the auto backup in iCloud Drive.
a) iPhone Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Use Cellular Data > Off
this should solve the problem. If it doesn't
b) turn off your Whatsapp auto backup

#ios 9 system services high data usage, unusual, iphone 6, 6s, 5, plus

 

[xmnj]

I have noticed that my iPhone still uses cell data while on wifi, for things like push notification and other system services. I reset cell statistics when at home, where I have strong wifi coverage, then when I look at cell stats after few hours, I see data usage.

 

[I7guy]

I have noticed that my iPhone still uses cell data while on wifi, for things like push notification and other system services. I reset cell statistics when at home, where I have strong wifi coverage, then when I look at cell stats after few hours, I see data usage.

What happens if you turn cell off. I still get push notifications and the like when cellular data is off; which I turn off when I am home, even though I'm on unlimited.

 

[e93to]

Phones do use cellular data even though they are connected to wifi. I notice at least 2mb of cellular data is used when staying at home for a full day.

 

[allanfries]

Had wifi assist on, for the first 2 weeks after the IOS9 install. It never seemed to do anything around poor wifi. I mean the speed was still crap. So its been shut off ever since. If I have issues sending or receiving thru my wifi I just turn the wifi off. Let LTE do it then resume to wifi. A pain but at least it works.
I haven't had any of the problems with data usage, but know some who recently do. Those having issues with high data usage. try "Reset Network Settings" in general settings. I'm thinking some conflict between cell/wifi due to crap wifi assist??? My theory anyhow. Worst case, if still persists, total restore through iTunes.

 

[jjd]

And this stupid phone did it again !!!! it used my 6,5 gigabytes in 3 day .. iam soooooo pisseed off i have this s hit phone !!! i want to cry. second month now without internett.

WIFI assis is of course off and running 9.0.2 but last night i got the message that the phone at 05:00 am used my last 1 gigabyte left after using 4gbs on monday night 04:00

 

[jjd]

I just watched my iPhone 6 burn 1GB under General Services in less than 1 hour! Burned through all my data and now I'm throttled. I had wifi calling turned off already. Once I noticed the crazy usage I disabled all auto updates, iCloud Drive, LTE for voice - to no avail. Reset network services. Again - no joy. This is insane and outrageous. WTF?

 

[Luis Mazza]

I just watched my iPhone 6 burn 1GB under General Services in less than 1 hour! Burned through all my data and now I'm throttled. I had wifi calling turned off already. Once I noticed the crazy usage I disabled all auto updates, iCloud Drive, LTE for voice - to no avail. Reset network services. Again - no joy. This is insane and outrageous. WTF?

Try to enable iCloud Drive, but disable cellular usage. IF this doesn't work, log off of iCloud everywhere, restart and log on again.