Why do I see cellular data usage, even when I have my iPhone SE2020 set with Cellular Data Off? (I also have Cellular Roaming within that setting turned off).
I recently switched from Rogers prepaid plan to Chatr. I did not have any data with Rogers prepaid, but now have cellular data with Chatr (30GB for the year, with my yearly plan).
I therefore did a lot of research on how to minimize and eliminate data use. (I have learned to live without data, using WiFi for everything in the past, but now that I have it, I will use it for GPS traffic and occasional internet if WiFi is not available.)
- I have cellular data turned off unless I wish to access it.
- I have background app refresh turned off for all but a couple of apps.
- I have WiFi assist turned off.
- I have notifications turned off for most of my apps.
- I have low data mode turned on.
- I have set the app store to not use cellular data.
- I have looked to see which apps use cellular data.
- My phone has been at home connected to WiFi when these usages occur.
When I look at my iPhone, I can see that “System Services” have used some small amount of data each day. They are Push Notifications, and a few others.
I accessed my Chatr account and looked at my usage and every day since I migrated to Chatr, a small amount of data is used several times a day. It’s always a small amount 0.01 MB, 0.02 MB, even 0.00 MB, but it shows up there and on my cell phone under Cellular in KB.
My question again, since I have Cellular data off, why/how are these “System Services” accessing data? They never did this when I was with Rogers prepaid and I didn’t have cellular data, so why are they using it now despite data off?
P.S. I searched the web for this topic, however, I never found a good answer, even though this question has been asked several times... My guess is that System Services simply ignores the Cellular Data Off setting, but I don't know why, especially since my iPhone is connected to WiFi when these data usages occur.
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@LordDrakkon : Thanks for the reply. In my web searches, I found that certain apps do bypass certain settings, as we have discussed in the various roaming threads. I don't use Facebook or Whatspp, so on my phone the only data usage is coming from "System Services" which I can see on the phone's cellular page. It should use WiFi when I'm connected to WiFi, but it doesn't.
If I could get System Services to stop using data, then I wouldn't have to worry about having my phone in airplane mode when travelling to a foreign country, but it appears that's impossible, as we have discussed in roaming. It was obviously not using data when I was on Rogers prepaid since I had no data, so it was weird that it now uses it when I have a WiFi connection and WiFi assist is off, all other settings are "correct", etc.
@TwitchyPuppy : Thanks for your question. As we discussed in this forum, location services are one of the items that can trigger roaming, but again, I could use location services on Rogers prepaid without data (when connected to WiFi) and it worked just fine. I have location turned on on my Weather app when I travel, so that I can get notices and was able to get notices through WiFi. So far my Weather app has not accessed data.
Yesterday I turned on cellular data to experiment with Google maps for about 10 minutes. I could then see that Google maps had used data and also accessed location through data (can see location utilized under System Settings). Google maps used about 3 MB of data during that time.
Again, people should be complaining about certain apps using this data usage since it should not be allowed to happen. It uses small amounts of data when in the home country and can trigger huge roaming charges when abroad. The complaints should be directed at Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Apple itself, etc.
Here's a good link on the topic:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apps-that-use-the-most-data/
For most of these apps you're supposed to be able to turn off cellular data, however, some of them don't have that option or override your settings and use small amounts of data anyway. Disgusting.
I guess the majority of people are so addicted to their phones that they pay and pay.
@HowardL : If you carefully read post 1 of this thread, you will see that despite having cellular data off, my iPhone shows small amounts of data use as does my provider (Chatr). So far there are no charges associated with these small amounts of data, but the data is not zero. You can test this yourself if you have an iPhone by turning cellular data off for a day or so, zeroing the data in the phone under cellular data at the start of the test and checking back in a day or two.
Here's a screenshot showing the data use on Chatr on October 29 and November 18 when cellular data was turned off. I've only had cellular data turned on for a couple of days since October, yet almost every day there is a small amount of data usage.
@HowardL wrote:
nothing (APPs/Background Serivces) can use Data in iOS. (Otherwise, You can talk to APPLE to the court.)
I have proven above that small amounts of data are used despite cellular data being off. Taking Apple to court? Good luck with that. So far I have not had to fight a provider for a refund on this particular topic, however, I wonder if others have been so lucky?
I'm sorry, but I find your posts extremely difficult to follow. Let my try to address all the concerns if I've interpreted your them correctly.
1. The Rogers PAYGO (Prepaid) transaction history was available to all active account holders using the following workaround. That's how I obtained a screenshot of my account balance and history just before migrating to Chatr (prepaid). If the account is closed, it obviously won't work.
2. Your phone should contain all of the same information as the provider. It has for me, showing all the texts, calls, etc. It also now shows small amounts of data used at the same time and amount as what is shown on Chatr since I switched to Chatr (prepaid) in late October. The screenshot in my previous post is from Chatr and reflects the same data and other usage as my phone reports.
3. I do not know how to access transaction history for Rogers Postpaid, but I'm pretty sure it's available - someone else will have to provide instructions on that, or you need to do some more searching yourself.
4. The only item I ever had issues with Rogers prepaid during 15 years, was spam calls, but every 3-4 months I called the Rogers prepaid number and had the agent reverse those charges. I never had to go to the CCTS. I always reported the spam calls to Rogers (SPAM - 7726) when I received spam, so it was very easy for the agent to see those reports and provide me with a credit. I was never charged for a missed call.
We are, however, getting off the topic of this thread, which is about the fact that small amounts of data are reported by my phone and my provider, despite cellular data being "off".
In summary, as far as I'm concerned, the information on my phone has always exactly matched the transaction information from my provider, whether that was Rogers prepaid or now Chatr prepaid.
@HowardL wrote:
...in my iPhone, there is no way to see like in your screen capture like: 2024/10/29: Data, 0.02MB.
You are correct. That is not possible.
What I typically do is keep a mental note of the amount of data used "to date" and if that changes significantly over time, I can check to see if that amount of change is properly reflected in the provider transaction history. This is not exact, obviously, but is good enough for my needs. I probably do this once a week.
I can also "reset statistics" at the bottom of the Cellular Settings page, so that provides an accurate amount of data used since the reset. I can also see the amount of data used by each app since the last reset. You can decide for yourself how frequently you do the reset - I will probably do that monthly and download my transaction history from Chatr monthly.
As for calls and text, they are available in the iPhone by clicking on the phone or messages app and viewing recent messages or calls.
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