Facebook using excessive data

[Anonymous]

I had a look at MyO2 and I've used 76MB of data since I set up my iPhone 5S this afternoon and over 63MB that was Facebook but I've been on wifi most of this time so I'm at a loss as to why it would use that much.  I've now turned off location services for FB (which I didn't on my iPhone 5) but does anyone have any ideas a) why it's doing this and b) what I can do to stop it?

I know about iPhones using data if they come out of sleep mode but I've never had this sort of problem before.  I've searched but can't find anything about Facebook - apologies if I've missed something.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

It's a good idea to have mobile data switched off at night because of o2 and apps updates and that uses a fair bit.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about iPhone but on my s4 I can set it to only update apps over wifi would have thought that to be pretty basic setting

[Anonymous]

Apparently on another post tonight if the iphone goes to sleep mode it goes back to 3g instead of wifi. It may or not be the case here Tracey but if it is you need to set apps to update over wifi only or turn gsm networks off over night.

[MI5]

It's probably syncing all your photos and contacts etc which it will continue to do in the background until complete. If screen goes off it will convert to using mobile data unless you keep your charger plugged in, in which case it will stay on wifi.

[Anonymous]

Just remember to toggle mobile data back on when you leave your wifi connection area !

It does become habit.

[Anonymous]

Erm problem solved - it wasn't Facebook after all! As I've now got 4G I decided to download a speed test app and have been playing about with it - to the tune of 120GB of usage...

Sorry for the confusion and thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Oh and by the way, I only get download speeds of 17meg after all that!

[Anonymous]

Hi Tracey,

I have read on an apple discussion forum that some apps, inc FB, prioritize mobile data over wifi, most likely why so much of your phone data was used when you downloaded the app, even tho connected to wifi.

If I remember correctly, when I downloaded FB on my 5s, I was 50mg short even tho connected to wifi myself!

Best thing to do, as you know now, is to switch mobile data off when using wifi.

Have a lovely weekend.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Speedtest is 40 to 50 mb per test
17mbps is about average, depending on usage in your area.

[Anonymous]

Things hopefully will improve ref the Network Future.

I'm grateful for the brilliant 4G download speeds I achieve.

[Anonymous]

17meg is brilliant really - the best wifi download speed was, wait for it, 2.78meg! Earlier in the day it was 0.41!