I had a strange iOS problem the other day – my iPhone 4s’s Mobile settings (Cellular settings for those not in UK) wouldn’t stay set in the ‘on’ or ‘off’ position.
Now while this isn’t the end of the world, it meant that I couldn’t ever guarantee that the iPhone wasn’t using tons of my data allowance – not ideal.
After the obvious solutions (hard reset, restoring from backup etc), most online research pointed to the dreaded clean reinstall of iOS – something that no-one really wants to do.
But fear not, there is a simpler solution.
This post on Apple’s Support Communities details the same problem, to which user nuno.bett provides a complicated answer which works.
As it transpires though, although correct, the solution is much more straight-forward. Your problem is almost certainly just a corrupted CellularUsage.db file, which needs removing. The safest way 1 to replace this is:
1. Backup your iPhone/iPad using iTunes, then make a copy of the backup itself (just to be safe). Here’s how to find your backups.
2. Delete CellularUsage.db from the main backup. It’s located in /var/wireless/Library/Databases/CellularUsage.db
3. Restore your iPhone/iPad from this edited backup using iTunes. iOS will naturally create a new ‘CellularUsage.db’, meaning your settings should now stick again.
Voila! Fairly simple. It will mean that you have to re-enter all your Mobile/Cellular settings, but a small price to pay for being safe in the knowledge that your iPhone or iPad won’t use unnecessary data.
- There’s lots of software available to edit an iPhone/iPad backup on both Mac and PC, some more reliable and reputable than others. Please do your research before downloading and installing this type of software. Naturally we hold no responsibility for any damage you may do. ↩