Streaming video is easily accessible from your iPhone, whether it is through Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, or many additional similar apps. But streaming video over a cellular network can consume a lot of your monthly data allowance, which can potentially cost you extra money.
If you find that the YouTube app on your iPhone is one of the biggest culprits of excessive data usage on your device, then you might be looking for a way to stop that from happening.
Your iPhone has an option that allows you to choose which apps can use your cellular data, so you can restrict the YouTube app to Wi-Fi networks by following our guide below.
Restrict YouTube App to Wi-Fi on an iPhone
These steps were performed on an iPhone 6 Plus in iOS 8.1.3. Other devices using iOS 8 will also be able to follow these steps.
Note that these steps will prevent the YouTube app from using cellular data. If you also want to stop using cellular data for YouTube videos that you view in Safari, then you will need to disable cellular data for Safari as well.
Step 1: Tap the Settings icon.
Step 2: Select the Cellular option near the top of the menu.
Step 3: Scroll down until you find the YouTube option, then tap the button to the right of it. You have disabled cellular data usage for the YouTube app when there is not any green shading around the button, as in the image below.
Now that you know how to turn off cellular data usage for the YouTube app on your iPhone, you can prevent that app from using any of your cellular data.
Are you unsure about whether you are connected to cellular or Wi-Fi? This article will show you how to quickly identify the type of network to which you are currently connected.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.