If you use an iPhone you probably know there are two ways to access the Internet with your phone: Cellular Data and Wi-Fi.
If you’re signed up for an unlimited data plan with your cellular carrier it makes little difference whether you’re connected to the web via cellular or Wi-Fi (other than Wi-Fi being generally faster then 4G cellular connections).
However, if your plan only allows for a limited amount of included cellular data each month you could potentially find yourself either having your Internet access shut off or incurring some pretty hefty overage charges if you happen to exceed your data limit.
If you are indeed on a limited data plan and you frequently exceed the cap, there are several ways to reduce the amount of cellular data that your iPhone uses every month, one of which is disabling cellular data altogether when you know you won’t be needing it.
For example, if you know you’ll be at home or at work all day where you’ll have constant access to Wi-Fi, you can disable cellular data to prevent your phone from automatically switching from Wi-Fi to cellular at times.
Luckily, it’s very easy to disable cellular data on any iPhone. In fact, there are two easy ways to do it…
First, you can disable cellular data via the Control Center. Here’ how:
1 – If you have an iPhone X or newer running iOS 12 or later, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open the Control Center.
If you have an iPhone 8 or earlier running iOS 11 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.
The Control Center should now be open on your screen.
2 – Tap the Cellular Data icon (it looks like an antenna that’s emitting radio signals). The icon should turn gray to indicate that cellular data is now turned off.
To turn cellular data back on simply repeat the steps above and tap the Cellular Data icon again (it should turn green).
You can also disable cellular data via the Settings app. Here’s how:
1 – Tap your iPhone’s Settings icon (it looks like a “gear“).
2 – Scroll down and tap Cellular.
3 – Toggle the “Cellular Data” setting to Off (the slider should turn gray).
To turn cellular data back on simply repeat the steps above and toggle the “Cellular Data” setting back to On (the slider should turn green).
That’s all there is to it. Now you know how to disable (and re-enable) cellular data to better manage your iPhone’s cellular data usage.
Bonus tip: Android users can disable cellular data on their phones as well. This post explains how.