How To Find Cellular Data Usage On Iphone

If you have limited cellular data on your cell phone plan, there's an easy way to check and manage your data usage on an iPhone.
With certain carriers, you'll have to reset your "Current Period" of data usage to coincide with your phone's monthly billing schedule. This will help ensure you don't go over your monthly allotment and get hit with late fees.
You can also determine which iPhone apps use the most data and adjust your usage accordingly.
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The average person in the US uses 2 GB to 5 GB of cellular data each month, a number that increases with each passing year. Although some people are fortunate enough to have unlimited data on their cell phone plans, not all of us are so lucky.

If you have limited data each month, consider monitoring your usage to ensure you don't go over your monthly allotment. After all, the last thing you need is an excessive late fee just because you read a few too many articles on Twitter.

Luckily, there's an easy way to check your iPhone's data usage so that you can stay within your monthly allowance. You can also check to see which apps use the most cellular data in case you're watching your activity closely at the end of the month.

Note: The instructions following step three below will not apply exactly to all iPhones and carriers. Some carriers allow you to toggle between the data you've used in "This Billing Period" and "Last Billing Period," which will appear as separate tabs under the "Cellular" section of your settings.

How to check your cellular data usage on an iPhone

1. Open your iPhone settings.

2. Click on the section that says "Cellular."

3. On this screen, you will see a section that says "Current Period."

"Current Period" will be at the bottom of the page.

4. The number to the right of "Current Period" shows how much data you've used. Below this, you'll see various apps with a number below them. This indicates how much data you've used on each app. You can also turn off the green button next to each app to prevent an app from using cellular data.

Certain apps, like Google Chrome or Spotify, use much more data than others.

5. If you're unsure what your "Current Period" is, scroll all the way to the bottom of this screen.

The "Current Period" reading will be accurate up to the hour.

6. Here, below "Reset Statistics," you will see the term "Last Reset" with a date. Your "Current Period" data usage number begins with this date.

7. If you're trying to measure your data usage in relation to your cellular billing cycle, you can click "Reset Statistics," which will reset the "Current Period" of your data usage.

8. Click "Reset Statistics" again when it pops up, and you're all set!

Click "Reset Statistics" twice to reset your Current Period.

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Jamie Friedlander is a freelance writer and editor. Her work has been published in New York Magazine's The Cut, the Chicago Tribune, Racked and Healthline, among other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from NYU and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.