# iPhone "iTunes Account" uses a lot of cellular data!



## Stewart Vernon

So...

Sometime last year I had a weird day of a lot of cellular data used, but it didn't happen again so I didn't think anything of it.

I am on the 200MB per month plan with AT&T and I rarely use and cellular data. In fact, for the entire history of my iPhone4, and older 3G from years ago I barely have gone over 200 MB total for both phones! I primarily use my phone when I can connect to WiFi either at home or out... and only use the cellular data when I absolutely have to.

To that end, I have as much stuff as can be disabled turned off...

So, today I find myself at 150MB of 200MB data used for the month. About 50 of that appeared mysteriously after I went to sleep last night... another 30MB of it happened one evening last week... and looking at my usage history online I found a few other random high-rate bursts on days that I can't remember being out anywhere using any data.

The only "cure" I see for the moment is turning off cellular data entirely... at least until the end of this billing cycle so I don't risk going over because that could happen in one day based on how it has been ramping up here.

When I look on the iPhone's tabulation area... in iOS 7.1.1, I see the single largest offender and accounting for virtually all of the unknown bursts of data is something in "System Services" called "iTunes Accounts". I don't have iTunes Match turned on... I have cellular data disabled for all apps, I have push turned off for everything, and I never use my phone for streaming videos or music. I also only download apps when I am connected to WiFi.

Whatever the "iTunes Accounts" thing is... is something I can't turn off apparently. I am hoping that disabling cellular data entirely will do the trick for now... but I would like to know what is taking bit bites (ha!) out of my data plan when I go to sleep at night.

Anyone else seeing this?


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## Steve

Did you check to see if iCloud is set to automatically back up to the Cloud? That might explain sporadic bursts of data usage.

Scratch that. Just realized that only happens over wifi.


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## Stewart Vernon

Good thought... but I have that turned off too. I am using the iCloud for very little actually, just calendar, safari bookmarks, contacts, and reminders.

Also... I've had this phone for several years... and only really started to have these issues in the past year... and even with that, it was one time nearly a year ago and now again this past week.

I'll go months at a time using 10-20MB and now suddenly am using that or more while I'm not even actively operating the phone.

If it was a rogue app, it seems like it would show up under that specific app... the whole "iTunes Accounts" section that is very non-descript about what it might be is bugging me because I can't diagnose any further.


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## dmspen

Have you posted this in Apple's support forums? I find lots of help there with 'odd' items.


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## NR4P

Try this app. My Data Manager. Its free and will track data usage by app. At least going forward you will see what is pulling data.


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## Laxguy

A 611 free call to AT&T might also be a good idea. Navigation can suck a lot of bytes- could that be on? 
I'd be on the phone with them myself for a bill I received for roaming charges in Canada, but I have no phone service where I am in Yosemite. Great WiFi, no phone.


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## mgavs

It sounds like icloud backup, if you use it for backup you could have taken many pictures or video that was backed up that night. Either way, you should be using wifi at home so you never use your cell data, especially for icloud backups. To test if it's an app, make sure all the apps are closed before you go to bed for a month then check it.


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## Laxguy

Afaik, the only way to be sure apps are closed is to shut it-the whole phone- down completely... Or is there a way??


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## dennisj00

Double-click the home button and it presents the open apps. Flick from bottom to top of screen supposedly closes them.

I don't think a reboot does anymore.


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## peds48

Make sure location services is off as well. That consumes data too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Stewart Vernon

dmspen said:


> Have you posted this in Apple's support forums? I find lots of help there with 'odd' items.


I haven't... but I read through multiple threads there where a lot of people have had different data-usage issues, and it doesn't seem like the majority of them have ever found a resolution. Some of the threads go back several years too.



NR4P said:


> Try this app. My Data Manager. Its free and will track data usage by app. At least going forward you will see what is pulling data.


I'm pretty sure it isn't an app. I always close apps when not in use. I don't let anything run in the background, and especially not when I put the phone back into standby. Also, I have every app that has every tried to use cellular data disabled as soon as it pops into the list. The culprit that is using all this data is in the "System Services" and marked as "iTunes Accounts" which appears to be a catch-all for a bunch of different background things that you actually can't turn off. I can't find anyone who knows (or is willing to share) what processes actually use this "iTunes Accounts" cellular data.



Laxguy said:


> A 611 free call to AT&T might also be a good idea. Navigation can suck a lot of bytes- could that be on?
> I'd be on the phone with them myself for a bill I received for roaming charges in Canada, but I have no phone service where I am in Yosemite. Great WiFi, no phone.


I've looked online at the data usage. IF I went over my allotment, I would definitely call AT&T and complain... but it looks to me like AT&T is legitimately tracking data usage by my phone... as opposed to a billing error or something. I didn't mention earlier, but when I find these odd bursts of data usage, they are also accompanied by a 10-20% or more battery drain that seems to indicate the phone really was doing something... it's just that the something it is doing is happening mostly when the phone is in standby, and usually when I'm not even awake or with the phone!



mgavs said:


> It sounds like icloud backup, if you use it for backup you could have taken many pictures or video that was backed up that night. Either way, you should be using wifi at home so you never use your cell data, especially for icloud backups. To test if it's an app, make sure all the apps are closed before you go to bed for a month then check it.


iCloud backup was turned off as soon as it became an option in the iOS. I've never used it, not even once. I also rarely take pictures with my phone... and on the rare times I do, I always move them off the phone and onto my computer myself so they don't linger. I have everything that can be turned off, off, except for those few little things like bookmarks/contacts/calendar synching that are important to me through the iCloud.



peds48 said:


> Make sure location services is off as well. That consumes data too
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I wondered about Location Services... because up until a couple of years ago I left that off all the time... but started to have a few apps that refused to run if they couldn't use Location Services.

So... my Location Services has been on now for the last year. BUT if that was the culprit for sudden bursts of data... why wouldn't it be doing it all the time?

Ex... the last time I reset the data usage counter on my iPhone was October 2013. Since that time my total cellular usage shows as 261MB, with 151 of that being from the "iTunes Accounts" in "System Services"... Now, add to that the fact that nearly 150MB of that has happened in the last 1.5-2 weeks!

So... why no usage for all the other months?

Heck... the data usage burst in the last week has happened when I am at home... with WiFi... and I haven't changed any settings in recent months.

There's no logical reason I can come up with for it to suddenly be using so much data... and to be using it with a "System Service" that isn't broken down any further, so I can't figure out what the rogue activity is coming from.


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## dmspen

There was probably an NSA request to see your personal data. !pride


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## mgavs

Have you tried this... If you scroll all the way down at the bottom of the cellular usage in settings, you will see a button called System Services. If you tap on that, it will show you how much cellular data you are using for things like Messaging Services, Push Notifications, Documents & Sync, iTunes Accounts, Siri, Voicemail, Software Updates, Find My iPhone, Diagnostics and Apple ID Services.


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## Stewart Vernon

mgavs said:


> Have you tried this... If you scroll all the way down at the bottom of the cellular usage in settings, you will see a button called System Services. If you tap on that, it will show you how much cellular data you are using for things like Messaging Services, Push Notifications, Documents & Sync, iTunes Accounts, Siri, Voicemail, Software Updates, Find My iPhone, Diagnostics and Apple ID Services.


That's exactly what I am talking about.

Virtually all the data usage is by "iTunes Accounts" but nobody can say what that truly means. And "iTunes Accounts" is not something you can disable, so even if I knew what it was it might not be something I can prevent from happening.

Fortunately, turning off cellular data has now prevented whatever it was from happening... and unless I can figure something out next month I will just have to leave it that way.


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## Steve

Did you play any iTunes music that wasn't on your phone? Wondering if iTunes did you a "favor" and auto-downloaded it for you.

Also, I know I've "pocket-clicked" on iTunes Radio without knowing it. I was in an elevator a couple of months ago and heard what i thought was Christmas Muzak playing. Turns out it was coming from my phone, tuned to the holiday channel!


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## Laxguy

Holy Cow! 

Haven't looked for an age, in part because I am on unlimited data, but here's the top few:

iTunes Accounts 1.2GB
Time & Locations 65 MB
Siri 64 MB
Messaging Servies 38 MB

I have reset statistics.

Note I am on iTunes Match, and I didn't think I was a heavy user of Siri.


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## Steve

I just checked and I noticed I used 454 MB running iPhone Speedtests this month! :eek2:

System Services have consumed another 367 MB. About half of that is Messaging.


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## dennisj00

If I remember older operating systems on the iPhone, background apps go away when you power off and reboot. They don't with IOS 7.

Unless I'm forgetting what a real re-boot is?


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## Stewart Vernon

Steve said:


> Did you play any iTunes music that wasn't on your phone? Wondering if iTunes did you a "favor" and auto-downloaded it for you.
> 
> Also, I know I've "pocket-clicked" on iTunes Radio without knowing it. I was in an elevator a couple of months ago and heard what i thought was Christmas Muzak playing. Turns out it was coming from my phone, tuned to the holiday channel!


Another good suggestion, but not the culprit. I do play music sometimes, but only the music on my phone. I have the option to "display all music in the cloud" disabled so I only see what I actually have loaded on the device.



Laxguy said:


> Holy Cow!
> 
> Haven't looked for an age, in part because I am on unlimited data, but here's the top few:
> 
> iTunes Accounts 1.2GB
> Time & Locations 65 MB
> Siri 64 MB
> Messaging Servies 38 MB
> 
> I have reset statistics.
> 
> Note I am on iTunes Match, and I didn't think I was a heavy user of Siri.


Yeah, that top one can be an eye-opener for a lot of people I bet. When I had my original iPhone 3G I had the unlimited plan... and like you, I never cared but I also noted I didn't use much data... so at some point when I had upgraded to the iPhone 4 that I have now, I downgraded to the cheaper 200MB limited plan to save money since I historically had not been using data. Imagine my surprise then to start lately seeing data get used at alarming rates when the phone is in standby with apps closed.



dennisj00 said:


> If I remember older operating systems on the iPhone, background apps go away when you power off and reboot. They don't with IOS 7.
> 
> Unless I'm forgetting what a real re-boot is?


Yeah... I haven't tested it to be sure... but have read online that apps essentially re-launch after a power off... so the only way to be sure they are closed and stay closed is to close them before you put the phone in standby or turn it off.


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## mgavs

Don't forget iTunes accounts includes app updates, you may have auto updates on. And ios system updates like from 7.1 to 7.1.1, just a thought. Btw, this is why I always recommend my friends get the next tier up, 200mb plan is a teaser. The next one was $10 more and I think was 2g but may be different now. I am on iPhone 5 and grandfathered in to unlimited.


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## Stewart Vernon

Good thought, but again nope... I turned off app updates the first thing after taking the iOS7 firmware initially... and the only time I have updated the firmware itself was over WiFi and the last update was weeks ago anyway.

I had everything off that could be turned off (except the whole shebang) and the only thing that finally stopped the rogue data usage was shutting cellular down entirely. I can't do any further experimenting until the next billing cycle.

I shouldn't need to buy a higher data plan. I don't use the data. I haven't used 200MB total since I bought this phone 3+ years ago... until the 150+ used without my consent this week. I manage my data use just fine. It's just suddenly something on the phone is using data that never was before... and it isn't anything that I can turn off, since I had everything off that could be off.

It looks like the only safe way is to have cellular shut down entirely all the time.. which is a shame, because every now and then I do need it... like for the visual voicemail feature... but if I can't trust the phone not to suck down data on its own, then I can't trust it.


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## Laxguy

How about just shutting it down completely when you turn in? I do that when it's 80% or so charged, so that a half hour on waking is enough to bring it up full.


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## mgavs

I would really like to know what is going on with your data. But instead of turning off the phone how about using airplane mode which turns off the items below, faster to turn back on since you can access it from the control center pulled up from the bottom of the screen.
Airplane mode turns off:
Cellular (voice and data)
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
GPS
Location services

I hope can can post here if you ever figure this out, if I have anything else to try I will let you know.


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## Stewart Vernon

The problem with shutting it down completely is... I fear that will only defer the data usage. I'm expecting that once I get to my next usage cycle, and I enable cellular data again, that I will have a burst of data again from whatever process is trying to use it. Since I don't know where the usage is coming from exactly, it's a scenario where I feel like I have to watch it like a hawk... but the "watched pot never boils" seems to be in play as I never see it happening... I just find out several hours later.

Sometimes the usage appears to happen at night when I am asleep... other times it has been in the evening when I was at home and awake but not paying attention to the phone. It would appear that it is capable of using this data while in standby without any indication that it is doing something.

Also, with the reporting of data usage not being instantaneous... the counter may not increase for hours after I actually used the data by which time I can't remember 100% what I was doing at the time.

I did consider Airplane mode... but since I was at the point where I needed to shut down the data before running over this cycle, I just shut the data off entirely and that seems to have stemmed the tide. Maybe when I am able to enable data again I can try Airplane mode.


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## Steve

in case you missed, Googling for iTunes data usage found this thread. Haven't pored through it, but looks like you're not alone:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3767668?start=15&tstart=0


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## inkahauts

There is an option to never update aps over cellular. If check on that too.


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## Stewart Vernon

Yeah, I found several threads... but nobody who had ultimately solved the problem. There were a few people who had things enabled that were sucking data... but there were people like me who have everything turned off and still were seeing large chunks of data at random times.


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## Joe Tylman

In theory it should use wifi as well. After your cycle I would enable wifi and then have your router log your events. Maybe this would help narrow down the search. Ultimately there has to be some disclosure somewhere about the data usage and if you have disabled everything I would contact apple to see what they have to say.


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## Laxguy

I would contact the provider!


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## Stewart Vernon

I don't think it is an AT&T problem. They appear to be matching usage to what my phone is counting... so it's not like AT&T is counting data that the phone didn't use. AT&T isn't going to be able to tell me what on the phone is using the data. They just see the phone using data. Apple is the one in the best position to tell me what is consuming the data, but based on all the threads at Apple discussion forums, it doesn't look like Apple wants to say what might be consuming the data.

On the data tracking front. I thought about the WiFi thing... that maybe whatever service is using the cellular data might try using WiFi when I shut cellular down. The problem I have with tracking that usage is... the phone itself doesn't track WiFi data. I am using a shared setup here in the house where actually my phone is connecting to the internet via internet sharing on my iMac... so I don't have an easy way to track the iphone WiFi. Also, at least some of this data usage may have happened when I was out of the house and connected to public WiFi... and I can't track that either.


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## Laxguy

Stewart Vernon said:


> I don't think it is an AT&T problem. They appear to be matching usage to what my phone is counting... so it's not like AT&T is counting data that the phone didn't use. AT&T isn't going to be able to tell me what on the phone is using the data. They just see the phone using data. Apple is the one in the best position to tell me what is consuming the data, but based on all the threads at Apple discussion forums, it doesn't look like Apple wants to say what might be consuming the data.


You seem completely sure that Apple knows and AT&T doesn't.... And it might take a five minute phone call.


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## Stewart Vernon

All the online threads I have read with people having the same problem have done that for me... contacting AT&T... and while some have been getting data usage credits, they have not been getting any further explanation as to what is going on.

Since I shut things down before I was overcharged for going over my data allotment, I have nothing that AT&T can credit me for... which is why I haven't wasted that effort on them for something that nobody else has been able to get an answer to. IF I had gone over my limit and been charged, I surely would have called AT&T first thing.

Again, though, it isn't an AT&T app that is using the data. It is a "System Service", specifically "iTunes Accounts" which is very clearly marked as something in the domain of Apple's control. AT&T squarely has pointed others back to Apple to resolve the problem because of that.


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## peds48

dennisj00 said:


> If I remember older operating systems on the iPhone, background apps go away when you power off and reboot. They don't with IOS 7.
> 
> Unless I'm forgetting what a real re-boot is?


You can actually specify which apps are allow to be backgrounded in the settings app. Further more, some apps runs some processes in the background if they are allow to. for Example I used "Moves" and this app always uses the location services to track movement as well as data to report back to iCloud


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## peds48

In overall these smartphones are made with the consensus these phones will use data and that the user will have to adapt to this if they want a fully operational device. While this may be wrong, it may have to be something that we will have to learn to live with...


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## Stewart Vernon

peds48 said:


> In overall these smartphones are made with the consensus these phones will use data and that the user will have to adapt to this if they want a fully operational device. While this may be wrong, it may have to be something that we will have to learn to live with...


I agree with you mostly... the problem I have is when you have usage limits and you don't have control over all the data easily. IF you have unlimited data, then I say let the phone and carrier and apps do whatever they want! But if they are going to charge you for going over a tiered limit, then it has to be possible to work under that limit. In my (and others) case, it is easy to stay under your limit and monitor your own data use... what seems to be impossible, however, is a complete monitoring and control of all data use since there are some aspects of the phone that don't appear to have a shutoff unless you go (as I have for the moment) with the all-or-none option.


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## peds48

my question Is and don't take this the wrong way, if you are not using your smart phone to it's full potential, why not get a regular phone? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Stewart Vernon

peds48 said:


> my question Is and don't take this the wrong way, if you are not using your smart phone to it's full potential, why not get a regular phone?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Who says I'm not using the phone to its full potential?

I use mine all the time. But I use it on all the free WiFi that is available everywhere and at home on my WiFi network.

I have near zero need for the data plan, but since I'm forced to have one I take the minimum and barely need to use it.


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## Stewart Vernon

I may have stumbled upon the question... but not the answer.

Ok... so, I still have cellular data shut off entirely. I still login a couple of times a day to check with AT&T and verify that they still show 0 data usage, and so far so good on that front.


About a half hour ago I was checking something on my phone, and I left it sitting on the table turned on. All apps were closed, and I have Background refresh turned off anyway... but I glanced at my phone and saw the circular data churning symbol going beside the WiFi indicator.

I checked, and nothing is running... but I noticed something strange.

IF I launched an app, the data churning symbol stopped churning. Go back to home screen, and data symbol churns again. I closed all apps and let it sit there... and it is doing something... battery was draining much faster than it normally would sitting like that with no apps running.

I searched a little online and saw some different iPhone discussions where people were asking "why is my iphone data churning on the home screen with no apps open"... and I didn't see anyone have an answer for sure, but there are some theories.

The popular theory seems to be... something wants to use data, but is discouraged... for example maybe it is hitting the Apple server every once in a while to see if there is data to push OR to check for App updates... but if it can't connect to that server, it will keep churning until it completes its task.

It reminds me of times when I am having DNS issues and I am running Firefox and click a link and it churns and churns and goes nowhere... but if I click "reload" the page will come up immediately...

So, I'm starting to think this is what the phone might be doing. It starts as an innocent "hey how ya doing" callback to one of Apple's servers... but it doesn't get a response, so it keeps saying "hey" again and again... until it gets an answer OR is more formally interrupted.

The popular workaround was shutting the phone down and turning it back on... and I did that, and my churning stopped.

So... this would confirm my "it isn't me" theory... but it doesn't tell me how to prevent it. With cellular data turned off, I was using WiFi which costs me no extra... but had I turned my cellular data back on I bet the phone would have started using cellular data once it went into standby and dropped the WiFi.

This would explain why the behavior is so sporadic. It may not initiate in standby unless I get an iMessage or something else that "wakes" it up to refresh... then once it starts it keeps going until I interrupt it.

This is a nasty bug, though... and it tells me you really have to keep a watch on things. I was fortunate tonight that I have data disabled AND happened to be watching it when it started churning for no reason. I watched it for a half hour churning away for no reason and just draining battery until I turned it off and back on again. The only time it stopped was if I ran another app, any app... but go back to the home screen and churn churn churn.


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## Laxguy

Good info! Not too oddly, my phone was dead out when I arrived home this afternoon. Yes, it had been on Nav., which uses a lot of juice, but not so much as to make it go bye-bye inside of six hours. Probably related to above.


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## inkahauts

Which circular data ring? The regular data one or the one that symbolizes it syncing wirelessly to a computer with iTunes?

And do you have all push notifications off? How do you have your email setup? Push fetch and how often for fetch?


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## Stewart Vernon

I'm talking about (from the top left of the display) I have my AT&T signal strength, followed by "ATT" then the WiFi signal indicator, then just beside that is the tiny churning symbol that indicates when data (WiFi or cellular) is being used. That's the one that was churning.

Not coincidentally... there was an App store/iTunes issue today... I read about on MacRumors... apparently it was out for some people and not others, and out for some services and not others... so I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the other times I had this happen could have been similar issues.

Imagine... if the iPhone tries to ping the Apple server to see if there are app updates... and uses cellular data to do that... which normally would be a small amount of data used to check-in and see... but it times-out and keeps retrying... for hours at a time... I'm almost convinced that is the culprit, and if true it could happen at any time you weren't paying attention to your phone.

And again... I don't even have my iPhone setup for email. I setup my iPad for email, but not my iPhone. I do have some push notifications enabled... but this has been true for years and would not explain why I suddenly used 150MB of data in a week or so time last month... or sometime last year used about 30MB one day. I have barely used any data (cellular) outside of those unexplained bursts.


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## Stewart Vernon

Laxguy said:


> Good info! Not too oddly, my phone was dead out when I arrived home this afternoon. Yes, it had been on Nav., which uses a lot of juice, but not so much as to make it go bye-bye inside of six hours. Probably related to above.


If you think about it... check your data usage for "iTunes Accounts" and see if you have a large amount there today... that might be a clue. When I was experiencing my big data bursts, I was also losing a lot of battery power too... which makes sense given what was apparently happening.


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## Laxguy

iTunes weighs in at 8.3 MB, next is Time and Location at 1.7MB.

iTunes also seems odd in wanting/needing to connect to cellular to play podcasts that are supposedly already downloaded onto the iPhone.


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## Stewart Vernon

It wouldn't surprise me to find out there is a lot of "phone home" stuff going on under the covers that we don't know about... and if the servers are all running correctly, it probably uses very little data... but when there is a problem, who knows. I remember a few years back reading about some people who were having internet troubles because the Apple devices were pinging a particular Apple server to determine if successful internet access was established... but the thing was, IF that Apple server was down you would be prevented from all internet access even if the rest of the internet would actually work. I don't remember how that story evolved and resolved... and I can't find an easy reference to it at the moment.


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## ktt

Stewart Vernon said:


> It wouldn't surprise me to find out there is a lot of "phone home" stuff going on under the covers that we don't know about... and if the servers are all running correctly, it probably uses very little data... but when there is a problem, who knows. I remember a few years back reading about some people who were having internet troubles because the Apple devices were pinging a particular Apple server to determine if successful internet access was established... but the thing was, IF that Apple server was down you would be prevented from all internet access even if the rest of the internet would actually work. I don't remember how that story evolved and resolved... and I can't find an easy reference to it at the moment.


I am having this exact problem, did u ever find out a reason for this happening? Thanks.


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## Stewart Vernon

ktt said:


> I am having this exact problem, did u ever find out a reason for this happening? Thanks.


Nope. AT&T blamed it on the iPhone 4 and IOS7... Apple blamed it on AT&T... the only way to "fix" it would be to buy a new phone that can run a newer operating system. So MY workaround was just to turn off all the cellphone data and only use it on WiFi.


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