Does your iPhone run out of mobile data every month before resetting your data plan? There are many reasons why your iPhone may use too much data. So, there are lots of ways to reduce data usage on iPhone.
The following are some suggestions to help reduce data usage on iPhone during daily use. But, even with these suggestions, your iPhone could still use some data for System Services. Disabling mobile data or keeping your iPhone in flight mode can completely stop data usage.
You can use below the top twelve tips to reduce mobile data usage on iPhone in iOS 14.
1. Turn off Automatic App Updates in Cellular Data Settings
If all the apps on your iPhone update using mobile data, your mobile data will disappear very quickly. So, you can make sure your apps are only updated over Wi-Fi. To do this in iOS 14, follow the steps below.
Go to Settings > App Store > Turn off Automatic Downloads under Mobile Data.
2. Disable Background App Refresh
You can cut down on data usage in iOS 14 by preventing your apps from pulling data into the background when you do not use them. That is, Apps in your iPhone or iPad update themself automatically when they are sitting idle.
As shown in the screenshot, the background app refresh can be turned off entirely or for each application separately. For that,
Go to Settings > General > Backgroud App Refresh > Seletct Off or select Wi-Fi only
3. Check which apps use the most data on iPhone or iPad
Do you periodically audit to see which applications use the most data on your iOS devices? By opening the Mobile Data section in the Settings app in iOS 14, you can see which apps use the most data. It is one of the tips to stop iPhone data usage.
Under each application’s name, it shows the amount of data used for the current period.If you do so, you can track how much mobile data you use.
4. Turn off iCloud Drive on Cellular Data
iCloud Drive is Apple’s cloud-based document management system. iCloud Drive helps keep all your content and documents up-to-date across all your Apple devices. iCloud Drive uses cellular data when a Wi-Fi connection is not available. For disabling iCloud Drive in iOS 14 on your iPhone, Go to Settings > Mobile Data > disable iCloud Drive at the bottom.
5. Disable Wi-Fi Assist
Wi-Fi Assist is a great feature that allows you to keep in touch when you have a weak Wi-Fi connection. That means, If your Wi-Fi connectivity is poor, using cellular data is activated automatically. Let’s see how to disable Wi-Fi Assist on iPhone.
Go to Settings > Mobile Data > Wi-Fi Assist (Scroll down to the bottom) > Turn Off.
You will find more details about Wi-Fi Assist if you visit Apple support.
6. Disable Cellular Data for Unused Apps
You can disable cellular data for unused applications not used for a while from your iOS device, and you can save mobile data on iPhone or iPad. Though you disabled these applications from this menu, it will still function over Wi-Fi.
Go to Settings > Mobile Data > Scroll down to the bottom and disable unused applications that you do not want to use your Cellular Data.
7. Do not Stream and download music
Staying away from Wi-Fi and streaming music or podcasts will increase your mobile data usage. Many music and podcast apps, such as Spotify and Apple music, allow you to do streaming over Wi-Fi only. It forces you to download playlists before playing them instead of streaming them over cellular data. For turning off,
Go to Settings > Music > Mobile Data > Turn Off
8. Fetch mail less frequently
You can check how often your email account is set up to receive new mail. If it has been configured to fetch less regularly, it uses less Mobile Data. It also helps to save your battery life.
If you do not want to continually receive new mail, you can turn off the Fetch New Data option. Moreover, you can also push to a new mail schedule. If you select Manually, then the Mail app checks for new email only when you open the mail app.
Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data
9. Use Safari’s Reading List
When you add a webpage to Safari’s reading list, it downloads for offline viewing. Then, If you use iCloud, it will sync your reading list with your other iOS devices. You can stop sharing it through Cellular data. For that,
Go to Settings > Safari > Turn off Automatically Save Offline option under Reading List at the bottom.
10. Turn on Low Data Mode
A new feature introduced in iOS 13 can slow down your data usage. So before you reach the limit for the month, you can enable the Low Data Mode.
Low Data Mode will stop anything that uses data unnecessarily.
Additionally, it will stop using data in the background, automate app downloads, and automatically retrieve emails. To turn on Low Data Mode, follow the below steps:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Mobile Data
- Then, tap on Mobile Data Options or Cellular Data Options
- Enable Low Data Mode to stop these background processes.
11. Browse the web using Chrome
There is an alternative for Apple Safari when browsing the web on iPhones and iPads, and Chrome is a good one to try when your mobile data is low.
The Chrome app has a data reduction feature that reduces the size of the websites you visit by running and compressing data through Google servers.
12. Send low-resolution images in Messages
With the latest iOS updates, you can send low-quality pictures in messages. Instead of sending an image in high quality, it is automatically sent as a compressed version, saving your data. To do so,
Head over to Settings > Messages and turn on Low-Quality Image Mode. You will find it at the bottom of the settings.
In addition to the 12 methods discussed above, the following specific practices also help reduce your iPhone’s mobile data usage.
- Use Wi-Fi whenever possible.
- Turn off 3G / 4G data on your iPhone.
To reduce mobile data usage on iPhone, go to Settings > Mobile Data and toggle the Mobile Data switch to off.
- Turn off push notifications on iPhone or iPad.
- Turn off autoplay video on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram.
- Stay tuned for what you see on the cellular.
- Turning off Data Roaming
Monitor System Services on iPhone
Finally, Please keep in mind that you can still see unexpected data usage on iPhone for your System Services even made all adjustments above. You can not disable mobile data for your System Services. It includes Push Notifications, iTunes Accounts, Time, Software Updates, Mapping Services, Security Services, Documents & Sync, and more. You can monitor which services use your Mobile Data in iOS 14. For that,
Go to Settings > Mobile Data > System Services.
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- How to Free up space on iPhone without deleting apps
- How to Automatically Delete Emails from Blocked Senders on iPhone
Have you already tried the methods discussed above to reduce mobile data usage on iPhone, or have you just learned something new? Besides, if there are any unique methods that you use, please mention them in the comment section below. Furthermore, by reading this guide, you will know how to limit data usage on iPhone appropriately.
