Cellular Data Usage for Apps

Large app downloads can use a significant amount of cellular data. You can control how cellular data is used by turning off cellular data for automatic app updates or for the App Store completely. This must be performed on the iPad or iPhone, as it cannot be done remotely.

Cellular data will not install or update apps that are larger than 200 MB. Devices must be connected to WiFi in order for the apps to install or update. Jamf Now will display the app status for large apps when devices are not on WiFi to install or update the app. If there is an update to the app, the app must not be in use.

Best Practice:

If high cellular data usage is a concern, disabling More Settings > Apps > Automatic App Updates can help limit app updates as a cause of cellular data use.

Best practice workflows cover common scenarios; however, the following recommendations may not apply in your environment.

If you have unlimited data plans for your devices and want to see large apps install and update over cellular, you can manually change device settings to automatically install updates to installed apps larger than 200 MB with cellular. In Settings > App Store > App Downloads change Ask If Over 200 MB to Always Allow. This cannot be remotely configured by Jamf Now, it needs to be done on each device manually.

A Jamf Fundamentals account is able to deploy a Network App Usage payload created in iMazing Profile Editor or Apple Configurator 2 using a custom profile to force managed apps to only use WiFi, and disable the managed apps from using cellular for internet. For more information, see Custom Profiles in the Jamf Now Documentation .