There’s nothing worse than being charged for data you didn’t use. You get home from work, settle down and open up your favorite show on Netflix. You start watching it, but then a pop-up says you’ve used 15% of your monthly data! How is this possible? The app might be using some of your data while streaming or downloading content. In this article, we’ll explain why iPhone apps use data when connected to Wi-Fi and give you tips on how to stop them from doing so.
Why Am I Being Charged for Data When Using Wi-Fi?
- Your phone is using cellular data when connected to Wi-Fi. Even if you’re on your home Wi-Fi, your carrier may have intercepted the connection and made it cellular instead.
- The Wi-Fi signal is weak or interrupted. You might have a slow or unreliable connection, but it’s also possible that someone in your area is using the same network, making it difficult for everyone to get a strong signal at once. It can happen even if your device has no problem accessing other networks (for example, those with more powerful routers).
- A tech support scammer has hijacked your internet connection with malware they planted on another device to steal money from you by charging you for services they aren’t providing!
How Do I Stop My Phone from Using Data When Connected to Wi-Fi?
- Turn off cellular data.
- Turn off the background app refresh.
- Turn off automatic downloads.
- Turn off location services for all apps that don’t require it (like Google Maps).
- Turn off notifications for all apps that don’t need them, like email and social media apps.
- Turn off push notifications for all apps that don’t need them, like email and social media apps.
- Turn off app syncing or set specific times when you want your phone to sync new content from your computer or the cloud.
How Do You Know If Your Phone is Using Wi-Fi or Data?
If you need help determining whether or not your phone is using data, there are a few ways to check. First, check your settings on the phone’s settings menu. If cellular data and Wi-Fi usage are set to “off,” then the device will not use any internet connection for the apps that need it.
Secondly, if those two settings are set correctly but you still notice the frequent use of data from your phone’s apps (such as YouTube), then it could be an issue with how many apps were updated recently. Go through all of them individually and update them again (or delete them) until everything seems normal again.
Why is my data being used when I have Wi-Fi?
When your phone is not connected to a Wi-Fi network, your cellular data can still be used when Wi-Fi is turned on, and Wi-Fi can connect automatically even when you don’t realize it. This situation can lead to high cellular data usage and unexpected charges due to unintentional internet usage.
To avoid this issue:
- Go into “Settings” on your device, then select “Wi-Fi” from the available options.
- Tap on the name of any nearby wireless networks or hotspots displayed to connect via them instead of using cellular data (you may need to accept terms and conditions first).
How do I stop my Android phone from using data when connected to Wi-Fi?
On your Android phone, go to Settings > Data usage.
Now tap on the device you want to control data usage and then move the slider from data to Wi-Fi.
How do I get my phone to use Wi-Fi instead of data?
You can make your phone use Wi-Fi instead of cellular data in a few different ways.
- Turn off cellular data by going to Settings > Cellular and turning Cellular Data off. This will only keep your phone from using cellular data while connected to Wi-Fi.
- Turn off roaming by going to Settings > Mobile network and turning Roaming Off. This will prevent your phone from attempting to connect through a nearby cell tower when it’s out-of-range of your home network’s Wi-Fi access point, which is usually cheaper than paying for international roaming fees on top of whatever you pay for home internet service.
- Enable airplane mode by tapping the airplane icon in the status bar at the top of your screen (or swipe down with two fingers). This disables all radios on your device so that you can’t receive calls or messages while connected via Wi-Fi, but it does allow apps that rely exclusively on a specific type of connection (e.g., Bluetooth) to continue working even though they aren’t getting their information directly from another device anymore!
How can I see what my data is being used on?
You can find out what apps are using your data and what the largest percentage is being used by. This should help you determine which apps use more than they should and how to deal with them.
To do this:
- Open up the Settings app on your device.
- Go to ‘Cellular.’
- Under the ‘Data Usage’ section, you’ll see an overview of your cellular data usage for this billing cycle; from here, you can tap on a bar or a specific day to see more detail about that period’s usage (e.g., individual apps’ totals for each hour). You’ll also be able to see how much data was used by each app overall in total (the blue column) and how much each app contributed individually toward the total overall time that app has been installed (the green column).
What uses the most data on WIFI?
Here’s a list of what uses the most data on Wi-Fi:
- Music Streaming: Streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora are very data-intensive, so if you plan on listening to these apps while connected to a Wi-Fi network, you’ll want to ensure they’re set up with a high-quality internet connection. This means that if you’re streaming music through your phone’s speakers, it’s best to plug in an external speaker system first.
- Video Streaming: The same rule applies to video streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu; make sure that your phone is using maximum bandwidth when watching TV shows or movies because this will significantly impact your data usage throughout the day. You can also try switching over to hardwired Ethernet cables when possible—the faster connection will help reduce buffering time and get rid of those annoying “buffering” bars that appear every few seconds!
If you need help determining which apps are using your data, go to Settings > Data usage. This will show a breakdown of how much data each app has used over the last few days or weeks.
If you see that Netflix is using a lot of data, it’s probably because you’re watching in a higher definition than you need to be or because you’ve paused your video and left it for too long (you know who you are). If it seems like an app is just sucking up bandwidth without any good reason, try restarting your phone and making sure there aren’t any updates available for that particular app.
Conclusion
If you’re using your phone over Wi-Fi, finding out why it’s still using data can be a pain. The easiest way to figure out what’s going on is by checking which apps use the most data on your device. If there are any apps you don’t use often or don’t need at all times (like music), try uninstalling them or disabling their automatic refresh function. Also, delete any unused apps that might have been recently downloaded onto your device since they could have been causing problems before they were even installed!
