Does the iPhone 6 Plus use more data?

If you’re inching close to your data cap each month, you may be wondering, does your iPhone 6 Plus use more data than their predecessors?

The short answer is yes, iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus users tend to use more data than other iPhone users – but the iPhone itself isn’t always to blame.

iPhone 6 Plus Users Use More Data

A report from Citrix in February 2015 found that the iPhone 6 Plus can use twice the amount of data vs. the regular iPhone 6.

Via Citrix

So why is this happening? The answer could lie in how 6 Plus owners treat their phones, compared to other iPhone owners. Citrix suggests that “usage patterns” are a big factor in why so much more data is being used. For example if you have an iPhone 6 Plus, the larger screen may make some of the more data-hungry tasks, such as streaming video, look more attractive. If you do this over cellular instead of Wi-Fi, you’ll quickly use up a lot of data.

iPhone 6 Plus Uses More Data for Identical Tasks:

If different iPhones are used in the exact same way, does the iPhone 6 Plus use more data? That was the question MobileReviewsEh had, and they put it to the test:

In almost every instance, the 6 Plus used more data than the 6 or 5S. How much more? While MobileReviewsEh didn’t provide detailed statistics, they estimate about 10% higher data usage for most tasks, and up to 40% more when watching videos.

This experiment is far from definitive – this is only one person’s test after all, and it relied on a third-party app to track data usage. Still, the results are insightful, and make logical sense. The larger screen on the iPhone 6 Plus can display higher quality videos and images, ultimately resulting in higher data usage.

Curbing Additional Data Usage

If you’ve already followed general steps to reduce data usage on any iPhone (like our tip on Facebook and Instagram data), there are a couple more things you can do the keep you from using data-hungry apps when you’re not on Wi-Fi.

Disable Cellular Data: Sometime will-power isn’t enough. To keep yourself from using Cellular Data for the worst offenders, disable it. Under Settings > Cellular, you can selectively restrict apps form using Cellular Data. Doing this for YouTube, Netflix, and any other video streaming app you have will help keep your data usage in line.

Last Resort – Compress Your Data: If after everything else you still want to restrict how much data you use when browsing, there are a couple of ways to compress your data usage.

• If you just want to reduce your data from web browsing, the Google Chrome web browser has a setting called Data Saver, which can compress web data on a server before it is sent to your phone.
• If you want to compress data on other apps, you can install Onavo Extend (Owned by Facebook), which compresses almost all data going to your phone. It may save you data overage fees, but be warned that it can slow your download speeds in the process.

Do you have an iPhone 6 Plus? Have you noticed an increase in your data usage? Let us know in the comments.