iPhone 5 high data usage problem – Everyone’s been getting edgy because when they got their iPhone 5, their data usage went straight to the roof. Mine was no exception. I normally could go for 50 MB-ish per month but ever since I used the iPhone 5, it went that far in just a few days! Though people got skeptical that it’s probably because they are playing around with their new phone and therefore, using more data.
Some suggests turning the 3G off because the iPhone 5 (or perhaps iOS 6?) has a bug where the OS chooses a 3G connection over Wi-Fi and therefore, consumes more data.
After watching this video, apparently the culprit is iCloud!! And to remedy that problem, you have to delete the whole iCloud account completely off your phone.
This video explains the data problem:
How to check if your iPhone 5 has the high data usage issue
If you are too lazy to watch the video, this is what you can do to test whether your iPhone has this high data usage issue:
[1] Turn your Wi-Fi off
[2] Go to Settings -> General-> Usage-> Cellular Usage (at the bottom of the screen)
[3] Reset the current statistics so you can investigate easier (Click on the “Reset Statistics” button). Your “Sent” and “Received” data should show 0 KB.
[4] Now, go back to the previous screen
[5] Wait for a few seconds, go back to the Cellular Usage
[6] Check the “Sent” and “Received” Cellular Network Data section again. If it’s still 0 KB, then you are good. If it goes up, then your iPhone has this issue! If you don’t believe me, try going back to the previous screen and to the Cellular Usage again a few times. Data should be increasing gradually every few seconds!!
What causes the high data usage problem on the iPhone 5/iOS 6?
According to the video and I can confirm it after I turn that off: iCloud.
How to fix the iPhone 5/iOS 6 high data usage problem
Delete your iCloud account from the Settings-> iCloud.
I know it’s sad and I’ve tried turning off a few iCloud sync but the data is still going up and up. Only when I delete my whole iCloud account from my iPhone 5 that the data stops spiking :( Until Apple fixes this, I guess we have to try living without having an iCloud Sync and the lovely “Find my iPhone” feature…
However, this may or may not be a bug. I mean, it’s possible that it’s a feature to make sure your devices are always in-sync, right? But depends on your data allowance, this may fill it up pretty quickly. I wonder whether this is the cause of iPhone 5’s bad battery life as well.
UPDATE: Apparently, a friend who is still on the iOS 5 (iPhone 4) also has the similar problem so it looks like this has been going on since iOS 5 or less?
Please help to share this post to your iPhone friends!
