Why is ‘General” under ’System Services’ using excessive cellular data?

After hours of desperation and research, i THINK i’ve found the problem. Navigate to Settings > Apps > and check each and every app you don’t use and manually turn off “cellular data”. I’ve noticed “App store” automatic updates and cellular data were on although i have it off in “cellular data” and there are a TON of default apps we never use but are built-in and they ALL had cellular data ON. When I turned all of them off the “General” section disappeared from System services. I hope this was the problem!

I had the same problem after upgrading fron Iphone 11 pro to 16 pro (Mint mobile + VPN, wife who is on same plan but still old phone doesn’t have this problem). After trying everything previously suggested on the internet short of resetting phone and not restoring from backup to no-avail, I found the thing that has fixed it for me: disable cellular data for the “App Store”. Previously even with “low-data-mode” and all “automatic” downloads disabled and the actual “cellular data” options under the app store settings turned off (app downloads = always ask), my data was being drained through “System Services, General”. Now it’s been 2 weeks and no sudden bursts of background data usage! Hope this works for others.

The culprit in my case was iCloud Private Relay.

I had the same problem, to the point of going crazy. I tried many of the solutions described here and on Reddit. I disabled Apple Intelligence, removed dictionaries, disabled and then re-enabled iCloud. I reset the network settings, and even the whole settings, as Apple had suggested during a support call, but that never really solved the issue. Sometimes I was using up to 20GB a day.

In the end, I had to completely reset my iPhone, with the pain of reinstalling dozens of apps, wallet cards, and all settings. Actually you can avoid this. Ok, for two weeks everything went fine, but afterwards that’s when I finally found the culprit.

I turned on iCloud Private Relay after roughly two weeks following the complete reset. A few minutes after activating it, I noticed that the problem started again. And I realise that the problem actually started on my previous configuration shortly after having enabled it.

My recommendation is that it is better to use a standard VPN if you really care about keeping your browsing private. iCloud Private Relay is sometimes poorly configured, incompatible with certain networks, and it obviously indeed caused this excessive data consumption.

césarfromparis wrote:

The culprit in my case was iCloud Private Relay.

I had the same problem, to the point of going crazy. I tried many of the solutions described here and on Reddit. I disabled Apple Intelligence, removed dictionaries, disabled and then re-enabled iCloud. I reset the network settings, and even the whole settings, as Apple had suggested during a support call, but that never really solved the issue. Sometimes I was using up to 20GB a day.

In the end, I had to completely reset my iPhone, with the pain of reinstalling dozens of apps, wallet cards, and all settings. Actually you can avoid this. Ok, for two weeks everything went fine, but afterwards that’s when I finally found the culprit.

I turned on iCloud Private Relay after roughly two weeks following the complete reset. A few minutes after activating it, I noticed that the problem started again. And I realise that the problem actually started on my previous configuration shortly after having enabled it.

My recommendation is that it is better to use a standard VPN if you really care about keeping your browsing private. iCloud Private Relay is sometimes poorly configured, incompatible with certain networks, and it obviously indeed caused this excessive data consumption.

I was with you until....

VPN will not enhance your iphone security. Private Relay is a form of VPN and look what that did!

No, unless you want to look at websites restricted by your government , like Russia or UK, VPN will cause more problems than it thinks it solves.

So I bit the bullet and wiped my phone and did not restore from backup. I have an older device I migrated all my data to so I can still access things if I find they aren't on this device.

What a pain in the butt!

HOWEVER: only 10 days left in the month, and whenever I leave the house I turn on cell data, and my system/general usage is only at 19MB! When I go out, typically I just use maps, and that still uses a lot of data, but not 300MB for no benefit.

Think I have the problem solved, though it sucks losing a bunch of data on apps that don't provide a way to migrate (mostly games).

I think this is the only viable solution, though I still would like Apple to explain what this data is. To be fair, the original installation I had was migrated from my original iPhone 3GS over the years, so likely some cruft along the way got in there.

I resorted to resetting my phone and not restore from backup, it was a great opportunity to discard apps that I wasn’t using and not traumatic as so much is stored in iCloud. This solved part of my data drain issue.

However, I had noticed that my phone was still using excess data whenever I was out of wifi coverage - about 500Mb per time! So I turned off Apple Intelligence, but the data was still disappearing. I realised that the data was being used on the occasions that I used Siri. I turned Siri off completely and now I’m not seeing the data drains.

I will continue to monitor and will report back if the data drain issues reappear.

goto settings. Mobile service. Scroll down and disable

1. wifi assist
2. icloud drive
3. icloud backup

your iCloud wil only use WiFi for backups

[Edited by Moderator]

Nope - another ~400Mb gone to System Services/General in a very short time (less than 30 minutes) with Siri & Apple Intelligence turned off . I’ve upgraded to iOS26, so the issue may be fixed?? Also, I happened to look through the settings for EVERY individual app (Settings/Apps…) and found that there were some apps that had mobile data turned on that weren’t listed under Settings/Mobile Data - many were Apple apps eg Freeform, Journal, Playground. I’ve turned all of those off also.

Now I’m back to monitoring cellular data usage….

I seem to have fixed my problem. I ended up resetting and erasing all content and NOT restoring from backup. This wasn’t as traumatic as it sounds and was a great chance to clean up the apps on my phone. I now have a much reduced set - only the things I actually use. Because all of my passwords are stored in the passwords app on icloud, it was pretty easy to get everything working again. I’m back to my minimal data per month plan and all seems to be going well.

This worked for me:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements
2. Turn off: Share iPhone Analytics

schveiguy2 wrote:

I am about to the point that I want to reset the phone and not restore from backup to see if whatever it is that causes this gets cleared. I might try this for a month and see what happens.

do that, and don’t install Dataman

On May 29th I added a comment to the thread:

“All I have come up with so far is that if I restart my phone while out of wifi coverage, the 1Gb of data disappears rapidly (within minutes) and the culprit is System Services/General.

If I don’t restart my phone while out of wifi coverage, then everything seems to be fine and my data doesn’t disappear.”

So far (it’s only been a few days) I still haven’t had the data drain issue and I have moved from wifi to cell coverage several times.

I’m also not willing to restart my phone in cell coverage to see if I can replicate the issue as I don’t want to lose my data allocation for the month…

When I'm in range of WiFi (95% of the time), turning OFF both Apple Intelligence and Cellular Data eliminated the excessive cellular data use for me. I'm on a low-cost prepaid cellular plan with a Verizon MVNO, so I monitor cellular data usage.

There are a few similar threads posted in Apple Support Communities in the last few months, including these two where I've also posted responses:

Excessive General data use over cellular network while in nightstand mode

Unread, Why is System Services consuming excessive data on iPhone 15 Pro Max?

Here's why I conclude that Apple Intelligence is using huge amounts of cellular data:

1) I did not have excessive cellular data use until I upgraded to an Apple refurbished iPhone 15 Pro in mid May 2025. My prior iPhone 12 Pro did not have Apple Intelligence capability. After the upgrade, I used about 4Gb of cellular data in less than 2 months, instead of my typical usage of 150-250Mb per month.

2) Apple Intelligence is NOT listed separately among the detailed Settings>Cellular>Cellular Data>System Services>Cellular data usage list. General shows over 4Gb used. No other Cellular Data service listed used more than 100Mb over that data collection period.

3) Turning off both Apple Intelligence and Cellular Data fixed the problem for me.

When I am out of WiFi range, traveling and using Apple Maps, Mail, Contacts, and a few other low-data apps, I DO turn on Cellular Data, but I leave Apple Intelligence 'off'. I have not experienced excessive data consumption since.

As long as WiFi is available, turning off Cellular Data has no effect on my ability to use my iPhone as a smartphone.

I'm going to submit a 'bug report' to Apple, recommending that Apple Intelligence cellular data be listed separately instead of included in General, and add a toggle that forces Apple Intelligence to use Wifi, instead of allowing unrestricted cellular data.

These were already off for me (what I normally do). Popped in to the Apple Store yesterday, it seems to be an unknown problem, so spent some time with a someone at the Apple Genius Bar ploughing through all settings and postulating what else could contribute to the magic System Services/General outflow. Current iteration was to turn off all under Privacy and Security/Location Services/System Services/Product Improvement and see what the week brings...

Andrew Stawarz wrote:

… my partner’s phone (identical model, broadly similar software installed, purchased 3 months later), doesn’t see the issue. …. Does seem to be an Apple issue.

Seems to prove your phone has the issue. Try turning off cellular data access for photos.