Prevent an attack on your mobile bundle
iCloud Drive is the online storage space that you get with Apple. You can access the files you’ve placed in iCloud Drive through the Files app or through the browser by going to iCloud.com. Because all documents and other files are in the cloud, you never lose anything and you can work on your files anywhere. A disadvantage of online storage is that data traffic is involved. This allows you to use up your data bundle more quickly, because iCloud Drive regularly synchronizes files with the server. You can prevent this by indicating which parts of iCloud Drive are allowed to use your mobile data network.
- Turn off mobile data for iCloud Drive
- Access files on iCloud Drive
- Data usage by iCloud Drive
Turn off mobile data for iCloud Drive
You can easily prevent iCloud Drive mobile data usage by unchecking the option in iCloud Drive settings. Below we explain step by step how to do this:
- Open Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Choose Mobile network.
- Scroll all the way down past the list of apps.
- Turn off the switch on iCloud Drive.
This prevents iCloud Drive from using your mobile data bundle. It’s a matter of on or off. It would be more convenient if you could allow some mobile data, but set a maximum. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t give you that option.
Access files on iCloud Drive
You can access the files in iCloud Drive in the following ways:
- Via a supported browser by going to iCloud.com
- Via the Files app on iPhone and iPad (iOS 11 and newer)
- Via the iCloud Drive app on older iPhones and iPads (iOS 9 and 10)
- By going to the Finder on the Mac and opening the iCloud Drive folder
- By going to iCloud Drive in File Explorer on a Windows PC
When you add your desktop and Documents folder to iCloud Drive, all your files are moved to iCloud.
Data usage by iCloud Drive
To find out how much iCloud Drive uses mobile data unnoticed, you can reset the data counter. You do this by choosing Reset data at the bottom of the screen. At Settings > Mobile network > Files you can see how much data has been used over time.
Need even more tips? Then read how you can prevent extreme data usage on your iPhone by choosing the right settings.