Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Something is eating up my mobile data

sk3pt1c

sk3pt1c

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 29, 2005
918
6
a simulacrum
Sometimes, my iPhone 5 and now the iPhone 5S (with the 5's backup restored to it) heats up and starts eating up a ton of data.

The battery starts draining like crazy. This happens very rarely to be honest.

A phone reset usually fixes it but not always.

Has this happened to any of you guys?

How would i fix it?

I'm thinking of doing a reset. This is kinda worrying.
 
Settings > Cellular and then scroll down to see your data usage per app or service.
 
Prabas said:
Settings > Cellular and then scroll down to see your data usage per app or service.
Click to expand...

Yep, I know of that, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

None of the apps I have running should start hogging data out of the blue for some reason.

Could it be a system thing?

I just reset data usage and will reset again when it starts doing it so I can see if anything jumps out
 
How do you know it's eating mobile data? It could just be some rogue app running in the background. It was if it was eating your mobile data, you would see a spike in the Cellular section.
 
madsci954 said:
How do you know it's eating mobile data? It could just be some rogue app running in the background. It was if it was eating your mobile data, you would see a spike in the Cellular section.
Click to expand...

I know cause i got a text message that i ate up 80% of my mobile data after it started heating up. I also have an app from my cellular provider through which i can check.
 
sk3pt1c said:
I know cause i got a text message that i ate up 80% of my mobile data after it started heating up. I also have an app from my cellular provider through which i can check.
Click to expand...

I got the same text last month that I went over my 2 GB on my unlimited ATT plan and if fit happens again I will be throttled.

I have never even come close to that in a month before, not sure why it all of a sudden out of the blue happened.

Do you use FB? I bet FB is the main cause it showed on mine that I used 3 GB on FB alone since my last reset.

I bet it has to do with stupid FB and how all the videos now auto play in the background.
 
davelanger said:
I got the same text last month that I went over my 2 GB on my unlimited ATT plan and if fit happens again I will be throttled.

I have never even come close to that in a month before, not sure why it all of a sudden out of the blue happened.

Do you use FB? I bet FB is the main cause it showed on mine that I used 3 GB on FB alone since my last reset.

I bet it has to do with stupid FB and how all the videos now auto play in the background.
Click to expand...

I reset the counter when i posted this thread, haven't used FB on cellular much since then. I should probably go chill somewhere outside, reset again and use my phone "normally" on 4G for like an hour and then see which apps have used more data.
 
Macman45 said:
If it happens again, consider setting up the phone as new. Yes, it means installing your apps and music again, but you will at least have eliminated software.
Click to expand...

I could just do a reset via iTunes, it will clear the phone and re-install everything from the backup, deleting unnecessary stuff.

All the apps that I have on my phone are apps I use, I try to keep it as clean as possible.
 
Macman45 said:
That's not quite the same as setup from new. A complete erase and starting over was what I had in mind. It takes a while, but might help in your case.
Click to expand...

I know, but that means losing all the data in all of my apps, some of which I've had for several years, which is a no-no, dude :)

Or at least a final resort :)
 
sk3pt1c said:
I know, but that means losing all the data in all of my apps, some of which I've had for several years, which is a no-no, dude :)

Or at least a final resort :)
Click to expand...

Yep, if you have a lot of in app stuff I can see why you wouldn't want to go down that road...If you took it Apple it would probably be their first move though.:)
 
Macman45 said:
Yep, if you have a lot of in app stuff I can see why you wouldn't want to go down that road...If you took it Apple it would probably be their first move though.:)
Click to expand...

those guys are reckless, they give you that bloody form to sign, and gone is all your data.... One of those mistakes you only make once...
 
I have found the culprit!

It's the Contacts app, of all things.

It ate up 650 MB in less than two hours and took my battery from 40% to 2%.

This is pretty crazy.

Should I report it to Apple?

It seems to only happen when I'm outside, it doesn't do it over Wifi. Or maybe it does but Wifi doesn't have as much of an effect on the battery as 3G does?

Going to restore it and see what happens...
 
Are you syncing Contacts with an exchange server? Maybe the server has a problem and is pushing a lot of changes to you?

I don't see how this can happen otherwise, other than a serious bug in iCloud syncing (which is the only other syncing method that pushes). Google/CardDAV syncing is pull, and the phone won't initiate a pull that often.


sk3pt1c said:
I have found the culprit!

It's the Contacts app, of all things.

It ate up 650 MB in less than two hours and took my battery from 40% to 2%.

This is pretty crazy.

Should I report it to Apple?

It seems to only happen when I'm outside, it doesn't do it over Wifi. Or maybe it does but Wifi doesn't have as much of an effect on the battery as 3G does?

Going to restore it and see what happens...
Click to expand...
 
zorinlynx said:
Are you syncing Contacts with an exchange server? Maybe the server has a problem and is pushing a lot of changes to you?

I don't see how this can happen otherwise, other than a serious bug in iCloud syncing (which is the only other syncing method that pushes). Google/CardDAV syncing is pull, and the phone won't initiate a pull that often.
Click to expand...

Nope, iCloud only. I have had issues with Contacts not sending new contacts to iCloud so maybe there's some bug?

Should i report to Apple somehow?
 
There no known issue that would cause the contacts app to act that way. So, it sounds like a corrupt library which of course can't be repaired with out a DFU restore.

You can and should report it on the Apple support website. But it isn't something that they're going to be able to do for you over the phone or email.
 
SpyderBite said:
There no known issue that would cause the contacts app to act that way. So, it sounds like a corrupt library which of course can't be repaired with out a DFU restore.

You can and should report it on the Apple support website. But it isn't something that they're going to be able to do for you over the phone or email.
Click to expand...

I know they can't do something for me at this point, but maybe it could be a bug they find and fix in a software update? Where would i go to report it?

I connected the phone to itunes and did a restore. I also just now deleted all contacts from my phone and turned icloud contacts off and on again. I tried adding a contact from my phone just now and it synced it to icloud OK, before it wouldn't. So maybe that fixed it, will have to wait and see
 
If you use app to count your steps, disable localizations in the background (to save battery life). Other apps that eats (without reasons) data storage: twitter, dropbox.
 
tomekosiowy said:
If you use app to count your steps, disable localizations in the background (to save battery life). Other apps that eats (without reasons) data storage: twitter, dropbox.
Click to expand...

The contacts app what was was eating data, i did a restore and it seems ok now, will have to wait and see
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back