Warning! Cellular data usage skyrockets with iOS 10 and macOS Sierra - Here's the fix!

[tonygray216]

I've installed developer betas of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. My cellular data usage for June was over 20gig! I was thinking a big part of that was because I was in San Francisco for WWDC for 10 days but even after I got home it continued to go up. I was charged for 2 overages and used all my rollover data!

The problem I figured out was iCloud. On Sierra, iCloud now syncs to all devices the desktop and documents folders which I love! But there is a switch on iOS 10 "Use Cellular Data" that is ON by default. So every time I dropped a 20 meg file on my desktop, that file synced to my iPhone using cellular data and I keep a lot of stuff on my desktop. Once I found that switch and turned it off, my data hemorrhage stopped.

The switch is in Settings, iCloud, iCloud Drive and scroll all the way to the bottom for the switch. Turn it off if you have macOS Sierra installed and have cellular data caps.

I thought everyone should know...

 

[kch50428]

Good catch... turned off cellular data...

 

[swarlos]

Yes you can.

 

[Oliverg109]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[OZsMac]

Also on iOS, app store updates don't respect the "Use Mobile Data" toggle in /Settings/iTunes & App Stores. Best thing is to turn off updates unless you are happy for these to occur over mobile data/LTE/Cell.

 

[Aztek13]

Thanks for the heads up. I just turned it all off.

 

[Rob Phillips]

Great tidbit. Thank you!

 

[anon(9602380)]

Great catch and appreciated.

 

[metllicamilitia]

Ah yes, I remembered this today. In 9 days I have used all 6GB of my 6GB data plan. Funny thing is I haven't added anything to my MacBook in that time. I did however toggle off cellular data and hopefully that fixes it.

 

[Dudley228]

Also on iOS, app store updates don't respect the "Use Mobile Data" toggle in /Settings/iTunes & App Stores. Best thing is to turn off updates unless you are happy for these to occur over mobile data/LTE/Cell.

With the first public beta, apps were just updating automatically and there was no stopping it. Tried the toggle and it didn't work.

Pubic Beta 2 has fixed the issue and apps don't automatically update.

 

[robertk328]

I had to do this a while back when I enabled iCloud Photo Library. It went through about 2gb that morning before I noticed it and shut that off which stopped it. I would have thought having Photos disabled in Cellular would have done the trick but it didn't. Though I always wonder if it was something else, but the only thing I remember changing was enabling the photo library.

 

[lightning8888]

Warning! Cellular data usage skyrockets with iOS 10 and macOS Sierra - Here's...

I have unlimited data with Sprint but still good to know. Why is iOS 10 using so much data?

 

[eyecrispy]

Oh wow. Good to know. Thanks!

 

[ghostface147]

I'm on a Verizon unlimited plan, so I don't care.

 

[Rob Phillips]

I'm on a Verizon unlimited plan, so I don't care.

Most of us have limited data, and care quite a bit. I'm wondering how much longer VZW is going to let customers keep those plans. They seem to be making it harder and harder.

 

[BradKamin]

Verizon will be moving anyone that uses over 100gb a month on the unlimited plan over to a limited data plan or terminate there plan if they choice not to switch.

 

[Rob Phillips]

Verizon will be moving anyone that uses over 100gb a month on the unlimited plan over to a limited data plan or terminate there plan if they choice not to switch.

Crazy, but I would think customers using more than 100 GB a month would be a very small minority. I've never even used half that much.

 

[M Fox]

Same problem here. Thanks for the solution.

 

[nehavas]

Thank you ,was wondering why my usage was more now .

 

[iN8ter]

It really syncs the data down to the phone automatically, instead of just downloading it as needed (like before, in iOS 9)?

Is this a bug or intended default behavior. I cannot believe they would seriously set this as the default on a mobile device (makes sense on a PC/Laptop, though)...