Apple provides a variety of tools to help you manage your iPhone’s data usage. These can help avoid hitting your monthly data cap or incurring overage charges, and they’re easy to use.
One of these settings is Low Data Mode, which restricts data usage to save you money on your cellular bill. However, it can cause lag while streaming and can also block Internet access for background apps.
1. Go to Settings
If you’re concerned about data usage, you can turn off cellular data on an iPhone or iPad. It’s an easy way to save money and reduce battery life.
You can access your iOS settings from the Home Screen or from within apps, depending on the specific settings you’re changing. You can also add a shortcut to the Settings app on the Home Screen by tapping and holding on the icon.
In addition to controlling how you get notifications, the Settings app can help you control how much data your device uses. For example, it lets you see which apps are using cellular data and how much of your plan’s allocation they’re using.
It also lets you turn off Location Services, which often eat up your cellular data and drain your phone’s battery. However, only a few apps need Location Services, so it’s a good idea to be smart about which ones you allow to use it.
Another useful setting in the Settings menu is Low Data Mode, which limits cellular data usage to save money on your monthly bill. This mode can cause lag while you’re surfing the web and pauses automatic updates and background tasks, but it’s an option that you can turn off at any time.
Finally, you can enable or disable Data Roaming to avoid roaming charges when traveling outside your country. This can be especially handy if you’re in a country without a network provider, but it also lets you avoid getting charged when you’re on a different carrier’s cellular network.
2. Tap Cellular
Your iPhone can use up a lot of data when you’re away from Wi-Fi. To prevent that from happening, Apple provides a few options for managing your data usage on the go.
One of these options is to turn off cellular data completely, using a quick toggle in the Settings app. This can be a great way to avoid running into monthly data caps or incurring overage fees.
Another option is to only allow cellular data access for certain apps that you regularly use. This is useful if you’re on a limited plan and want to reduce your overall data usage.
In the Cellular section of the Settings app, you’ll see a list of all your installed apps. Each app should have a toggle switch next to it, which indicates whether or not it’s allowed to use cellular data.
You can also disable cellular data for your iTunes and App Store accounts, which will prevent them from downloading anything when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi. This is especially helpful if you’re on a limited data plan and you don’t want to run into any overage charges.
Finally, if you’re using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app on your iPhone, make sure you have this turned off as well. It may be causing your cellular data to work incorrectly.
3. Tap Data Usage
Some apps on your iPhone depend on cellular data to transfer information in the background, and restricting this can cause them to stop working unless you have a Wi-Fi connection. This can be a great way to save a little money on your phone bill.
You can see how much cellular data each app uses in the Cellular tab of Settings. This will tell you what apps are using more than usual and help you decide which ones to turn off for a while so that you can save some money.
To do this, simply tap the Cellular tab and then scroll down to find which apps are using a lot of data. When you do this, you can choose which ones to turn off, by tapping the toggle switch next to each app name.
Another great way to cut back on your cellular data usage is to disable Location Services on your iPhone. This will limit how many apps can use location services, which can eat up your data unnecessarily.
This can be particularly helpful if you often use the App Store to download and purchase apps, or you’ve got multiple devices linked to your Apple ID account. You can also stop the App Store from automatically downloading apps & purchases made on other devices to your iPhone.
Finally, you can turn off the App Store from automatically playing app preview videos on a cellular network. This will reduce your cellular data usage and prevent you from accidentally going over your plan’s limits.
4. Tap Off
A lot of people aren’t sure how to turn off data on their iPhone, but it is an essential skill to have. You can use it to avoid getting a bill you didn’t plan for, and it’s also useful if you have a limited amount of data left on your plan.
You can disable cellular data on an iPhone by going to Settings and tapping Cellular. There you can see which apps and services use cellular data, and you can choose to disable it for them all.
Some of the most common data-sucking apps are FaceTime and iCloud Drive, but you can stop these from using up your mobile data plan by switching them off. To do this, head to Settings > Cellular/Mobile Data and scroll down the list of apps until you find FaceTime or iCloud Drive, and then toggle their cellular data usage switch to Off.
One other way to keep your cellular data use under control is by turning on Low Data Mode. This mode pauses automatic updates and background tasks, which can help you save a significant amount of data.
While it may seem like a little extra work, you can rest assured that this will reduce your monthly cellular data usage significantly. You can also turn on a few other features that will help you keep your data use down, including Airplane Mode and Low Power Mode.