If you are on a Limited Data Plan, it is important to make sure that the Wi-Fi assist feature on your iPhone is disabled or switched-off.
Leaving the Wi-Fi Assist feature switched-on can result in your device using mobile or cellular data, even if you are listening to music and browsing the web using your home, office or public Wi-Fi network.
This can happen due to the default tendency of the Wi-Fi Assist feature to automatically switch to cellular data, whenever the Wi-Fi connectivity is poor or weaker than the mobile network.
Why Turn OFF Wi-Fi Assist on iPhone
While the Wi-Fi Assist feature can be help in ensuring uninterrupted music streaming, navigation and web browsing, it comes with its own set of disadvantages or cons.
Higher Data Usage: The overall data usage on your iPhone can end up being a lot higher than expected, especially; if you are using data-intensive apps like TikTok, Netflix, YouTube and Social media apps.
Battery Life: The Wi-Fi Assist feature can have an adverse impact on the Battery Life of iPhone, due to its tendency to constantly scan both Wi-Fi and cellular networks and frequently switch to mobile data, which consumes more power than Wi-Fi.
Call Quality: Wi-Fi Assist can have an adverse impact on call quality, due its default tendency to automatically switch from Wi-Fi to cellular network and back.
Data Roaming: If you are travelling, there is always the possibility of the Wi-Fi Assist feature quietly triggering expensive data roaming charges.
Network Connectivity: While the Wi-Fi Assist feature has been designed to be helpful in case of poor Wi-Fi connectivity, it can lead to inconsistent connectivity and even cause network connectivity problem by rapidly switching back and forth between the two networks.
Functional Wi-Fi Ignored: When Wi-Fi Assist feature is enabled, iPhone is likely to ignore functional Wi-Fi and relay on using expensive cellular data, even if the Wi-Fi network is good enough.
Disable Wi-Fi Assist on iPhone
If you are on a limited data plan and travelling, you can disable the Wi-Fi Assist feature on your iPhone at any time by following the steps below.
1. Go to Settings > Cellular.
2. On the next screen, disable Wi-Fi Assist by moving the toggle to OFF Position.
Note: You can prevent Data Roaming while using Wi-Fi Assist by going to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options and moving the Data Roaming slider to OFF position.
2. Enable Wi-Fi Assist on iPhone
If you are in an area with poor Wi-Fi connectivity, you can enable the Wi-Fi Assist feature on your iPhone and see if it can live up to its intended design to providing uninterrupted network connectivity.
1. Go to Settings > Cellular.
2. On the next screen, move the toggle next to Wi-Fi Assist to ON Position.
As mentioned above, the Wi-Fi Assist feature can lead to excessive data usage. Hence, it is important that you monitor the cellular data being used on your device.