Jason Cipriani/

Your iPhone wants to be connected 24/7, and Apple has built a whole raft of features into iOS that wants to take advantage of that connection.

Problem is, using these features can put a serious dent in your cellular data plan, which either means that you end up paying extra fees or being kicked to a lower-speed tier by your provider.

Also: iOS 16: How to get the most out of your iPhone's new lock screen

See also

• How to record a phone call on an iPhone
• How to clear the cache on your iPhone (and why you should)
• How to take a scrolling screenshot on Android and iPhone
• How to add your transit card to Apple Wallet

OK, let's take a tour of the settings in iOS 16 that are the ones most likely to burn a hole in your data plan.

I don't mind paying for something that I need and that's useful, but many of these services can wait until I'm on Wi-Fi.

And bear in mind that even if you have an unlimited plan, your provider may still limit how much high-speed bandwidth you have available.

If you have a totally unlimited plan, then you can leave all these on and not worry about any consequences.

Backing up over Cellular

This is one of those settings that Apple warns might "cause you to exceed your cellular data plan." It does an important task -- it backs up your iPhone data to iCloud -- but as long as you have Wi-Fi coverage on a regular basis (say a few times a day), this is a setting that can be safely turned off.

Go toSettings> [tap on your name at the top] >iCloud>iCloud Backupand tap theBack Up Over Cellulartoggle.

Photos

People take a lot of photos and pushing these over the cellular network can use up a lot of data.

Go toSettings>Photos>Cellular Data. Here you have two settings:

• Cellular Data: Uses a proportion of your allowance
• Unlimited Updates: Full upload and download, which Apple warns "may cause you to exceed your cellular data plan."

Personally, I have both turned off because it's a heavy user of both data and battery.

App Store

Apps -- and app updates -- can be huge and downloading them over a cellular connection can take a huge chunk of your data allowance. Unless you're in some big rush to download or update an app, I'd wait until Wi-Fi is available.

Go toSettings>App Storeand tap theCellular Datatoggle.

TV

This is another one of those features that can use a lot of data if left unchecked. The occasional TV show might not be that bad, but streaming movie after movie is going to hit your data hard.

Go toSettings>TVand tap theUse Cellular Datatoggle.

If on, underCellularyou have two options:

• High Quality: Uses the most data
• Automatic: Uses an optimized stream which uses less data

Apple

This powerful app tells you everything about your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook's batteryI can't recommend the 15-inch MacBook Air enough, even if it's not for meApple Watch upgrade time? How to choose between Series 8, Ultra, or waiting for Series 9I tried Apple Vision Pro and it's far ahead of where I expected

• This powerful app tells you everything about your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook's battery
• I can't recommend the 15-inch MacBook Air enough, even if it's not for me
• Apple Watch upgrade time? How to choose between Series 8, Ultra, or waiting for Series 9
• I tried Apple Vision Pro and it's far ahead of where I expected