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Large data usage in middle of night

J

jayjysmth

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 26, 2012
21
0
Can anyone recommend where I start looking to figure out why my new I5 is using data in the middle of the night while I am sleeping? Excuse my ignorance but I am new to the Iphones coming from a Droid. The phone is showing have used 4-6MB around 4:00-5:00 am every night or so if that helps to troubleshoot.

Thanks
 
I would systematically turn off push on emails, other push notifications etc and see if that reduces the usage during the middle of the night.
 
jayjysmth said:
Can anyone recommend where I start looking to figure out why my new I5 is using data in the middle of the night while I am sleeping? Excuse my ignorance but I am new to the Iphones coming from a Droid. The phone is showing have used 4-6MB around 4:00-5:00 am every night or so if that helps to troubleshoot.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That's a very small amount of data, which shouldn't worry you if you have a decent data plan. The iPhone is constantly checking for updates, push/fetch notifications, checking in with your provider, etc. All this consumes data even if you aren't actively surfing the web. The only way to completely eliminate data usage is to turn your iPhone off or turn ON airplane mode before you go to sleep.
 
Could it be iCloud backups? I think they're supposed to only happen over WiFi though.
 
Stetrain said:
Could it be iCloud backups? I think they're supposed to only happen over WiFi though.
Click to expand...

That is the running theory and that there is an issue in iOS causing them to get pushed over cellular not wi-fi as when the phone is locked and screen off wifi is disconnected.

There are a bunch of threads on this issue.
 
I believe that is when your iphone uploads all of your usage and location metadata to apple. This happened on every iphone since the 2 I believe.
 
I guess I should re-phrase my question so that I am a little clearer. I have a wifi network at home so why in the world is the iphone using any cellular data at all, even if it is sleeping?

Thanks for the quick responses guys/gals.
 
I guess I should be more clear.

Your phone is uploading your usage and location metadata to apple at night and it uses the network not wifi, even if your on it.
 
Thanks again for the response, what should i disable to prevent these uploads?
 
try turning your phone on flight mode before bed and see if it still happens.

If it does, then try turning it all the way off and see. It will be a good test.

dont forget you can not remove the battery so it is never really all the way off.
 
matttye said:
When the phone is asleep for a while it seems to revert back to cellular. When I unlock the phone after a while I see that WiFi has disappeared and the 3G/E/GPRS logo is there.
Click to expand...

However, if it's connected to a power source, wifi should remain persistent (even if wifi logo disappears). If it's not connected to a power source, it disconnects from wifi while asleep (to conserve battery).

Nevertheless, it'll still use cellular data over wifi for certain things but it's not much and the OP's 4-6 MB of cellular usage is indicative of this.

Nothing to worry about.
 
chakraj said:
I guess I should be more clear.

Your phone is uploading your usage and location metadata to apple at night and it uses the network not wifi, even if your on it.
Click to expand...

I am getting hit for 800mb's I highly doubt that is usage and metadata
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
However, if it's connected to a power source, wifi should remain persistent (even if wifi logo disappears). If it's not connected to a power source, it disconnects from wifi while asleep (to conserve battery).

Nevertheless, it'll still use cellular data over wifi for certain things but it's not much and the OP's 4-6 MB of cellular usage is indicative of this.

Nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

I agree that 4-6MB is nothing to worry about, unless you only have like 100-200MB data allowance each month.

However, are you sure that what you're saying about WiFi is correct? It doesn't make any sense to me that the phone would continue to use WiFi when it's not displaying the WiFi icon. :confused:
 
matttye said:
However, are you sure that what you're saying about WiFi is correct? It doesn't make any sense to me that the phone would continue to use WiFi when it's not displaying the WiFi icon. :confused:
Click to expand...

Persistent wifi has been a feature since iOS 4. Just check your wifi router's status/logs while the phone is connected to a power source to prove to yourself.
 
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