iPhone 5s Data Usage

[M3ckir]

Hi there,

A few weeks ago I got a new iPhone 5s at Best Buy. The rep there was very nice and helped a lot, but that's not the point here. My family has a 2gb shared data plan with unlimited texting and unlimited minutes and 4 devices. This iPhone, an all new HTC One M8, a Galaxy S4 Mini and a Galaxy S5. Our new billing cycle started the 25th of this month. It's only been a few days and just this one device has used 13% of our data. I haven't done that much either, checked Facebook maybe once a day, Instagram twice maybe 3 times and used iMessage. Tonight I did a test, I reset the statistics on my iPhone and sent and received 5 messages on iMessage, checked Facebook, checked the my verizon app, and downloaded 10 new emails. All of that was 1.4mb and within 5 minutes. If I do that 3 hours a day that's over 1,800mb a month, that's almost all of our data plan. Meanwhile the other devices have been used the same or more than mine and have only used 5% opposed to my 14%. So in a cliff note version, why is my iPhone using so much data? I calculated and I can barely use any data to stay under the allowance, just the one device. I have data turned off for everything except Facebook, Mail, my verizon, and snapchat and Instagram. Now data is turned off for everything except weather and maps just to make sure I can make it through this month until I figure out what's going on. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! I apologize for any grammar, doing this on that iPhone. Autocorrect.

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

I know how important it is to ensure you do not exceed your allowance, M3ckir. You have taken very proactive steps by turning off data usage for the applications on your phone. Do you use services like iTunes match or iCloud? With the latest version of Facebook, the application now includes an auto play feature so that videos will start playing automatically. This can lead to an increased usage. To disable auto play, you can go to Settings>Facebook>Settings and switch Auto-play on WiFi only to the on position.

AndreaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[M3ckir]

Thanks, I'll try this. But I highly doubt this is the ONLY thing causing me to use so much data. There aren't usually videos in my newsfeed.

[M3ckir]

And to answer your other question, yes I use iCloud.

[vzw_customer_support]

Thanks for the reply, M3ckir. Certain features of iCloud are able to set to operate on WiFi only. However, this has to be managed first. If you go to Settings>iCloud>Documents & Data you can turn Use Cellular" off. This way you can ensure that you are limiting your phone's access to cellular data when you are not aware of it syncing.

AndreaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[M3ckir]

That's one of the things I had actually already done. 🙂