Data Usage not making sense

[alliue]

I've seen a few other threads with this same problem but I will start a new one anyway and answer some of the questions that people may have.

I've had my vodafone contract for a very long time now. I use around 5GB data per month, sometimes slightly more. I now have 11GB monthly data which is plenty for my usage, and I haven't changed any settings in a long time.

My contract renews on the 3rd of each month and 3 days after my last data renewal of May 3rd, I received a text telling me that I used all of my data. I started a chat with a vodafone rep and they told me they couldn't see my usage due to privacy issues, but could tell me that it was pretty much all used up on May 6th - the same day I received the text. The time was around 9am in the morning and I woke up not long before, having been asleep since 9pm the night before. I hadn't even checked my emails and my data was used up completely. The rep was kind enough to give me 2GB at no charge, which I figured I could make last for at least half of May. So today, May 7th, only a day into my 2GB, I received a text telling me I had used up all of my data again! I was on wifi all night and all morning (which was working fine) and it wasn't until I got into my car that my data was used up. I was only out of my house for 20 minutes and 2GB was gone - and I was driving so wasn't even using my phone so have no idea how it happened. 

I have turned off mobile for my photos and uploading to icloud (although I have always had this on previously and never had an issue). I also turned it off for a few other apps just in case, but again no change from the last 15 years at least. 

I am totally baffled and am reluctant to purchase more data because it seems that as soon as I turn on my phone or leave the house, it's gone in minutes. 

Please can someone help? How do you actually view which apps have used your data historically? 

Thank you so much.... I'm not sure what else to do! 

[Beth]

Hi @alliue! Your phone usually records this information and it's dependent on the device's make and model as to where you can view this. As you've mentioned iCloud, I'm going to assume you have an Apple device.

If you go to Settings > Mobile Data. You'll be able to see a breakdown of your data usage on each individual application. Just to advise, iPhones retain this information from when the phone is first turned on so this won't be an accurate reflection of your previous month's usage but it will give you an idea of your usage in general. 

If you'd like to monitor your application's data usage more intently, please scroll to the bottom of that page and hit Reset Statistics, use your phone as normal and check this again in 7 days, you'll then be able to see where the data is being used and by what application specifically 🙂