Why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden? Well Explained

Being using your a mobile data plan on your cellphone and all of a sudden you noticed that your cellphone is consuming your data plan a lot.

What could be the problem?

This will be first question that will come into your head, and to look for a way to fix the problem. However, you will first identify where the problem is coming from before embarking on fixing the problem.

This being us to the question of the day.

Why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden?

This is usually caused when there’s so many background update which you are not aware of it, or probably caused by your service network provider as they increase the rate data consumption. 

But you never can tell until you take a look at your data usage to determine what is actually eating up your data plan before drawing conclusion that it may be caused by your service network provider.

Both on android and iPhone, you can easily check all the apps and phone features that used your data plan for the month. So this is the first and foremost thing to do.

Why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden?

This may be caused by an increase in data rate or you have installed tons of apps that uses a lot of internet in the background and some of them includes the likes of GPS, maps, etc.

But you need to identify these apps that are using your cell phone data plan and put them to sleep especially if you rarely use them on your cell phone.

How do I find out what is draining my data?

To find out what is draining your cellular data, you have to go to data usage and view all your data usage for the month.

HOW TO CHECK DATA USAGE ON ANDROID

To fix this problem of why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden, you have to first take a look at your data usage and calmly go through the apps and details on the your data usage.

To check data usage on android, get started by opening the settings app and tap to open connections.

Scroll down a bit and you will see Data Usage, tap on the data usage to open it. The first thing that will be displayed to you is the total number of data you have consumed so far for the month.

why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden

Since we are talking about why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden, you have to tap to open mobile data usage and right there you will see all the apps that have consumed your cell phone data plan starting from the biggest to the lowest.

why is my phone using so much data

All you have to do is to scroll down to the very last thing you see on your data usage and from there you will attain the apps and phone features that drain your cell phone data plan.

HOW TO CHECK DATA USAGE ON IPHONE

To check what causes high data usage on iphone, you have to open the settings app and tap on the section that says cellular.

On the next screen you will see a section that says Current Period, and if you look beside it you will see the total amount of data consumed so far for the month.

Below it are all the apps and phone features that consumed your cellular data plan for that very month and from that you can attain what causes high data usage on cell phone.

what causes high data usage on my iPhone

After going through your data usage the month and going through the apps, do you happen to see an app that you barley use but it is in the data usage with a medium or large data consumption, that app is running in the background.

If they are so many then it is likely that they are the causes of phone using so much data on your cell phone.

What you have to do

After going through your monthly data usage on your cell phone and finding out the apps that are taking most of your cell phone data plan, you have to restrict background apps from these apps.

First, I will recommend you to disable all auto update like the software update and apps updates using your cell phone data instead of Wi-Fi.

For background apps, the likes of Facebook app, Facebook messenger app, whatsapp, Twitter, Skype, imessage, Instagram, Pinterest, App store and Google play store, Google play services, online shopping apps, etc all uses a cellphone data plan in the background especially the likes of Google play store and Apple App store.

Disadvantage of restricting data on background apps

The will no longer be able to send notifications on your cell phone, you won’t receive Facebook notifications, whatsapp messages, imessages, Twitter notifications, Instagram notifications, etc, until you open the apps. 

Immediately you opened the apps on your cell phone, you will receive the notifications as long as you have an active internet connection.

How do I turn off background data on Android?

Let me show you how you can restrict data from these background apps and I will use whatsapp as an example.

1. GET STARTED BY OPENING THE SETTINGS: Open the settings app on your cell phone and scroll down to apps, tap to open apps.

2. LOOK FOR WHATSAPP: You have to scroll down to whatsapp or search for it using the search button, and upon seeing it tap and open it.

3. OPEN MOBILE DATA: As you have opened whatsapp, the first you will see is mobile data, kindly tap on it to open.

What's whatsapp data usage

4. DISABLE ALLOW BACKGROUND DATA USAGE: Immediately you opened mobile data, on the next screen you will see where it states allow background data usage which is usually enabled by default. You can go ahead and disable it on your cell phone.

Whatsapp data usage

With this you have restricted whatsapp from using your cell phone data plan when you are not using it. Whatsapp will only use your data plan when you are using it.

Remember, this will prevent you from receiving WhatsApp messages and calls until you open your whatsapp you will receive messages and calls.

This is applied to any other background data apps like Facebook app, Twitter, app store, etc.

After you must have restricted data from these apps when you are using them, you won’t experience a surprised high data usage on your cell phone.

Let me show you how much background data my whatsapp have used so far this December. 

why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden

That is 30.17mb from 1st December to 22nd December. If you are the type that has lots of whatsapp groups, it will reach up to 100mb because of the number of messages sent by the group members.

Your network provider may have increased the data rate

This is another reason for this problem of why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden, your network carrier has increased the data rates.

For example, if previously loading a full web page takes 2mb, they increased it to 4mb. If the web page has lot’s of high quality pictures, pop-ups, and video, it may take 8mb for the page to load fully.

You can inquire from your network carrier customer service representative on their data consumption rates though most time they wouldn’t tell you.

What causes high data usage on my iPhone?

Most times what causes high data usage on iphone are auto updates which is enabled on both WiFi and cellular data. But same time high data usage on iphone goes down to the iPhone user’s internet activity. 

While asking why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden, previously you may not be the type that stream YouTube videos or watch Netflix movies, then since the turn of the month you started to stream online.

Afterwards you begin to complain of your data plan draining so much. I tell you don’t have to complain because Netflix alone will consume 2GB of your cell phone data within an hour, while Youtube will consume like 400mb depending on the video quality.

How do I stop my phone from using so much data?

To stop your cell phone from using so much data, you must restrict background app data usage, and reduce the quality of videos you stream online.

Mostly high data usage on a cell phone goes to down to the phone user’s internet activity. You will see a person consuming just 2GB per month on cellular data, while another person consumes 100GB on cellular data.

As long as you don’t have an unlimited data plan, limit your internet usage unless you don’t care about the amount you spent on cellular data. But I recommend you to go for a Wi-Fi if applicable.

This is all I have to explain on why is my phone using so much data all of a sudden. First you need to identify all that is using your cell phone data plan and restrict them from using your data in background until you open them.

About Kennedy

I'm Amaechi Uchenna by name, a mobile tech enthusiast who love writing articles about tips and tutorials especially relating to gadgets.

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