How to Fix Cellular Data Not Working on iOS 18 with Apps or iPhone
Some iPhone users have discovered that cellular data is not working on many apps after they have updated to iOS 18. For example, you might be driving and discover that you can no longer stream music from Music app, or can’t listen to podcasts from Spotify, or load reels on Instagram, or watch TikTok, but only when you’re on cellular data, and after updating an iPhone to iOS 18.
This is a common enough complaint that there are multiple posts about it on the Apple Support forums and elsewhere on the web, and I personally also encountered this issue after updating to iOS 18 as an iPhone as well. After updating to iOS 18, my cellular data worked with apps in a small range, but then all cellular data quickly stopped working at all if I drove just barely outside the city. This is understandably frustrating, but the behavior also gives a clue as to what might be wrong, and how to resolve the issues where apps are not working with cellular data after installing iOS 18.
For many users who experience difficulty with cellular data and iOS 18, the resolution to this problem is actually fairly simple.
Fix Apps Cellular Data Not Working in iOS 18 on iPhone
The solution to many users issues with cellular data not working on an iPhone with iOS 18 is to investigate the cellular data settings, as there may have been changes made here:
- Go to “Settings” on the iPhone
- Go to “Cellular”
- Make sure that “Cellular Data” is toggled ON here
- Next, tap on “Cellular Data Options” and make sure “Cellular Roaming” is turned ON
- Now, back at the primary Cellular screen, scroll down to see cellular data configurations for individual apps and make sure these are toggled ON for all apps you wish to be able to use with cellular data
After you have made these adjustments, try using cellular data again, and things should work as usual and as expected.
Note that some cellular data plans may charge more for cellular data roaming, so that is something you should investigate regarding your individual data plan.
Why did Cellular Data settings change after updating to iOS 18?
It’s not clear why some Cellular Data settings were changed, adjusted, or turned off during or after the iOS 18 update process on some users iPhones. Fortunately, this is such a simple thing to check and to fix, that it won’t take much effort to correct the problem.
Interestingly enough, the Cellular Roaming setting was toggled OFF on my iPhone after updating to iOS 18, which was the cause of apps not working with cellular data in my particular situation. It took me a few days to figure out what was happening and why, but the symptoms were basically this; cellular data would work with most apps when I was near home, but after a drove a little ways away, apps would no longer transmit data over cellular. This meant Spotify would randomly stop playing music and podcasts once it lost the cellular data connection (or rather, ability to use cellular data roaming), but it also meant that apps like Safari were unusable, as was anything else that required cellular data usage just slightly away from home.
Some other users have found that Cellular Data may be turned on in general, but for individual apps the settings for cellular data were toggled OFF. Simply toggling those back to the ON position resolved their app cellular data issues with iOS 18.
Force reboot helps resolve iOS 18 cellular data issues for some
Some iPhone users also resolved their cellular data app issues by force restarting their iPhone.
You can do this by pressing Volume Up, Volume Down, then pressing and holding the Power/Lock button until you see an Apple logo on screen.
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Have you experienced any issues with cellular data in iOS 18? Did apps not work with cellular data for you after updating to iOS 18? Did toggling the settings for Cellular Data, Cellular Data Roaming, and individual apps, work to fix the issue for you? Let us know your experiences in the comments.
Yet an other ‘MeToo@Apple’ moment. This happened to me as well but the fix was difffent in my case. Using the reset network option solved the issue. I did not realise that my phone was not working as a phone for nearly 3 days.
Luckily, I did not have any crucial calls in that time and it was not until I someone needed to contact me urgently that I discovered the phone part was not working as there were no other indicators to alert me to the potential problem.
Normally, I wait until at least the 2nd major update to any new IOS is released before committing so as to avoid any likely mission critical issues. This time I did not as the new options in 18 looked to be worthy of taking advantage of. Lesson relearned the hard way.
While I understand the complexity of any OS and the infinite number of indivuidual configuration possibilites which may create specifically unique issues, Apple cannot be excused for not coming across this one.
I mean, iPhone is a phone at its most basic level. Being able to make and recieve a call is a core business function and one you’d expect the software and hardware engineers to pay particular attention to throughout the development and beta testing – and make absolutely sure that got it right. I mean, its not as if this is all exactly new to them, is it?
It’s a bit like Boeing selling aircraft that cannot stay air borne when in routine flight under normal weather conditions. WTF.