How Much Cellular Data Does iMessage Use? Find Out Now!
In this post, we discuss how much Cellular Data iMessage Use, and how to reduce or stop it's data usage. Click to read full guide.
Author:Daniel BarrettFeb 11, 2021147284 Shares2630070 Views
Do You Use Data When Using iMessage? Well, the simplest answer to this question is yes. iMessage will definitely provide its service when it is supported by your data bundle or it must have a wireless connection.
iMessage sends text messages, pictures, and movies over cellular data rather than through the traditional SMS and MMS protocols, but have you ever wondered just how much of an iPhonedata plan all your iMessage use is consuming?
It turns out that you can find this information through a somewhat buried location in iOS Settings, and if you’re on a bandwidth capped data plan it may offer some actionable data to work with if you regularly find yourself hitting the limits of your cellular plan.
You’ll be able to find this information on any iPhone or cellular equipped iPad running a modern iOS release.
Finding iMessage Data Consumption in iOS
Apple devices back from iOS 5 in 2011, iMessage was a very popular app and it gets modified over the passing years.
It also featured estimating how much data has been during a day or in a month but now this particular aspect vanished into thin air and that is why users cannot calculate their regular usage. But there are other ways to see how much cellular data has been used in a day or in an hour.
By this, you can also see which App using more data specifically. You can turn on or turn off your data service for individual Apps on your devices or enable data to your preferred applications.
- Launch the “Settings” app and go to the “Cellular” section located near the top
- Navigate past the listed apps and all the way to the bottom, and select “System Services”
- Find “Messaging Services” near the top to see the total iMessage cellular data consumption
- Find iMessage data usage
- In this screenshot example below, “Messaging Services” (iMessage) has used 408MB since the last time the cellular usage data statistics were reset.
Keep in mind most of this message data usage is exclusively due to the photos and videos, not the actual transmission of generic texts and messaging without multimedia. While the former can eat up 5mb per image sent, the latter text communications are literally measured in tiny kilobytes and would barely dent even the tiniest data plans.
How Can I Use Less Data On iMessage?
Unlike third party iPhone apps and many other bundled services, there is no option to disable iMessage sending over cellular data while keeping it enabled for wi-fi connections, and instead you’d have to turn the feature off completely and fall back to SMS. That certainly works to avoid additional cellular data consumption, but falling back to SMS can have it’s own problems if you don’t have a generous texting plan associated with the iPhone, making it a delicate balance.
There is a number of means which can enable you to use less data or totally zero data usage. But it can only be done by turning off your iMessage App by following below steps:
- Go to your mobile settings
- Choose messages
- Select iMessage and turn it off
There is another means which is quite easy to execute. Users must connect your device with a wireless connection as much as possible for you and stay out of cellular data plans. You can put a limit on heavy files like videos and pictures that you share with people.
In this digital era, you can quickly find so many other Apps that give you the exact same services offered by iMessage but charges are very minimal. A few examples include WhatsApp, Messenger, IMO. You can experience similar functions by these alternative applications.
Finally, for those who own a Mac and an iPhone and rely on iMessage to easily share files between the two devices, pay special attention to being on a wi-fi network when you use the service to send stuff between iOS and OS X, which is highly effective but can tax a cellular plan particularly hard.
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