iOS 9 "WiFi Assist" gives you better Internet connection at price of massive mobile data use.

Is iOS 9 Sucking Up All Your Data? Turn Off This New iPhone Setting Right Now.

Is iOS 9 Sucking Up All Your Data? Turn Off This New iPhone Setting Right Now.

Business Insider
Analyzing the top news stories across the web
Sept. 28 2015 11:19 AM

Is iOS 9 Sucking Up All Your Data? Turn Off This New iPhone Setting Right Now.

A customer inspects the new iPhone at the Wangfujing flagship store on September 20, 2013 in Beijing, China.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez. Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

This post originally appeared on Business Insider.

Alongside split-screen apps, Apple News, better Maps, and improved battery life, iOS 9 has a new feature: WiFi Assist. When your wireless Internet connection is poor, your iPhone will compensate by switching back and forth between cellular and Wi-Fi, improving the experience of using the Internet.

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In Settings, Apple describes WiFi Assist as letting users "automatically use mobile data when WiFi connectivity is poor." While this is fine in theory, some users are seeing dramatic increases in data use without changing their browsing habits. While many users have seen a small increase in use—around a gigabyte—others have seen a jump from 1GB to 7GB since updating to iOS 9. The issue was first spotted by Quartz.

Switching off WiFi Assist can fix these problems, thought it does come at the detriment of a reliable internet connection when using Wi-Fi. To switch it off, go to Settings > Mobile Data and scroll all the way to the bottom where "WiFi Assist" is located and toggle it off. If you're in the U.S., go to Settings > Cellular and follow the same steps.

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Switching off WiFi Assist can help reduce mobile data usage.

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Having WiFi Assist on by default is a deliberate choice by Apple, which seems to be aware of the problem.