Serious and Common iOS Bug!

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iOS has a nasty bug where your device is constantly consuming cellular data from your data plan, and unless you have an unlimited plan, you are being charged for it.

Go into: Settings --> Cellular --> scroll down in the list of apps and see if there is one called "Uninstalled Apps".

For some Uninstalled Apps has only used a few KB of data. But for others it may have been many MB's or even GB's. For some the amount is thankfully static, but for others it is increasing, and sometimes at a high rate.

See:

Apple Just Gave Millions Of Users A Reason To Quit Their iPhones
Apple Just Gave Millions Of Users A Reason To Quit Their iPhones
 

Slydude

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Thanks for that heads up Randy. I just checked my XS and it is showing about 20 MB of data used in that category. It has probably been at that level for a while. I checked my bill yesterday and didn't notice a change in data use.

×
 

chscag

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Mine shows that I've used 117KB but since I have unlimited data with T-Mobile, I guess it doesn't matter for me.

The question, however, is why does Apple even have something like that and what purpose does it serve? And I guess most important... is how do you remove it?

Thanks for the heads up Randy! :)
 

Raz0rEdge

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The "Uninstalled Apps" is showing apps that you had installed in this billing period that you've removed. Since the app is no longer installed, it's name and the ability of your control of its cellular use is removed, but it WAS installed and counted against this billing period, thus they all get grouped together into this bucket and show their usage.

Interesting that an uninstalled app (that is not present on the phone) can take up any data bandwidth at all. If you are continually deleting apps, then that number should grow since you aren't seeing the total usage of the other apps you have installed.

Mine was 15.7MB last period and 14MB this period.
 

chscag

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Thanks Ashwin. It appears that you are right in that it's only for the current billing period. That makes more sense than having the uninstalled apps cellular data accumulate over time.
 
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Randy B. Singer
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Thanks Ashwin. It appears that you are right in that it's only for the current billing period. That makes more sense than having the uninstalled apps cellular data accumulate over time.

I've heard from several folks at this point who have said that this has persisted across several billing cycles. I've also heard from folks where this bug has consumed many gigabytes...all out of proportion to what any application that they have had installed used up. And other folks have reported that the amount of data consumed by "uninstalled apps" has increased while they watched!
 
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I guess that applies to people away from Wi-Fi, or to people that refuse to use "public" Wi-Fi when and where available?
 
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The statistics don't seem to reset based on billing cycle automatically. I have to manually reset the stats (at the bottom of the list). I was showing 500+MB of data used, but the last time I reset was back in September, 2019, so that would be over 7 months or so. I have cleared out a lot of apps in that time, including two SatNav systems that I no longer use, so they would have pulled down a ton of data to update maps and do route planning. I just reset it, will watch to see if it changes in the next few days. I think it's nothing to panic over, despite the purple prose in the article.
 

IWT


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FWIW, I "Reset Statistics" and the "Uninstalled app" stats returned to zero instantaneously.

Hardly exciting as it was previously 9.4MB.

Ian
 
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OK, I reset my stats as I reported yesterday. Today, just now, Uninstalled Apps is 5.2KB. Not much, but I haven't uninstalled anything, which makes the explanation by Ashwin in post #4 unlikely. Must be something else contributing to it.

EDIT: Also, I've been social distancing and have not left my home since the reset, so it's using that data even though I'm in full range of WiFi.
 
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Reset Statistics

FWIW, I "Reset Statistics" and the "Uninstalled app" stats returned to zero instantaneously.

Hardly exciting as it was previously 9.4MB.

Ian


How do I "Reset Statistics"? I've been getting billed for excess data usage for a couple of months and haven't been able to figure out what to do. AT&Ts "help" site is completely unhelpful.

Right now my "Uninstalled Apps" stands at 149 MB.

Your help would be appreciated.
 
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Resetting the stats won't stop the data flow, but to reset, use Settings/Cellular and scroll to the bottom of the list where you should see "Reset Statistics."

As a follow up, after resetting on the 16th, my Uninstalled Apps figure is up to 36.5kb. Not much, but it shouldn't exist at all.

EDIT: Is an updated app considered as "uninstalled?" If so, and if this causes the "uninstalled" app status, that might be an explanation. A bug, but explained.
 

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Thanks for the heads up! I had 1.3 Gigs of it! I reset and it now shows nada. ��

Bob
 
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Resetting the stats won't stop the data flow, but to reset, use Settings/Cellular and scroll to the bottom of the list where you should see "Reset Statistics."

For whatever reason, some folks (including me) don't have a "Reset Statistics" there. I haven't been able to find such a feature anywhere else in the interface either. :Grimmace:
 
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Hmm, curious, Randy. Here it is on my iPhone:
ResetStats.png

Literally the LAST thing on that page.
 
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I don't have that option either.
 
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Weird. I wonder if it varies by cellular service. I use Verizon.
 
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I also have T-Mobile.
 

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