Help Sudden increase in data usage - how do I find out the cause?

[marchag42]

I upgraded from my Hero to the SGSII last week and I love the phone, but I noticed today that I've used 136.19MB of data. In the last 18 months I've barely come close to my 500MB monthly allowance so this is a big hit for just one day.

I use 3G Watchdog (since getting the Hero), and having read some threads I've installed My Data Manager and TrafficStats Lite to monitor usage from here on, but does anyone know how I can find out retrospectively what apps used up my data today?

3GW only appears to show MB used and not what used it.

I try to do most of my browsing, downloading and social network updates on the home wifi, and on checking 3GW since I started with the Samsung on 05/08, the most I have used in a day is 46.5MB. Ironically, I've hardly used my phone all day today - on 3G I checked a few emails. Last week I was hardly off the "new toy".

Any help gratefully received.

 

[Slug]

Try 'Network Usage' (free in the Market).

Don't reboot the phone prior to installing it and it may show all previous activity. I've never looked at what it displays immediately after installation though so my idea may be a bust. It will certainly give you a per-app breakdown from then on though.

 

[marchag42]

Thanks Slug, I downloaded the app but unfortunately it only shows usage from install. However, it did show up that even on wifi there is one particular app receiving much higher data than any other - AP Mobile. I think it comes pre-installed as a systems ap and drives the news widgets (with mostly US news).

A quick Google revealed other SGS2 users experiencing problems with this app hogging data, CPU and battery. What I can't determine is how to shut it down - I read one post where they had to root the phone to remove it. Don't really want to go down this route.

Anyone know how to permanently close AP Mobile down without rooting?

 

[Slug]

Anyone know how to permanently close AP Mobile down without rooting?

I'm pretty sure it's installed in /system/app so it won't be possible without root. Check Settings/Accounts & sync for a related entry that can be disabled - I can't be of much more help as I'm not running a stock firmware.

 

[heshanj]

hmm.. wont AP mobile only use data if its active? i.e. if u've put the widget on ur homescreen, and its updating? ive been using the widget on my phone since i got it, and after using a million battery monitoring apps to save battery life, i didnt notice AP mobile really using much.. but that maybe different on urs.

but no, u cannot remove the app from ur phone without root, im afraid

 

[marchag42]

hmm.. wont AP mobile only use data if its active? i.e. if u've put the widget on ur homescreen, and its updating?

Did a bit more research last night and it would appear AP Mobile is definitely a problem for some users. I don't have it on my home screen (I tried it when I first got the phone, thought it looked awful and had too much US news content and removed it). Some of the threads I've found on the issue:

[Q] AP Mobile massive data use - xda-developers
[Q] Ap Mobile using too much data - xda-developers
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1721887
O2 Forum :: View topic - Samsung Galaxy S2 - Used all data allowance

Started the phone up this morning, and over my wi fi connection the Network Usage stats showed it had received 33.4MB inside 10 minutes of startup. Every other app in use measured in KB.

I tried the uninstall option from Network Usage - as expected, not allowed.
Looked in Applications and Sync - not listed.
Used the STOP function in Manage Applications>>Running - it stopped then immediately started running again.
Turned off Background Data and Auto Sync in Settings - it still kept running!

Next I've tried adding the News widget back to my homescreen to see if I can get some control options from there and here is an odd result - the widget has been showing the "loading" message for the last 10 minutes and AP mobile is no longer running!

Now removed the widget, the AP Mobile still shows as Active on Network Usage, but is not listed on Running Applications.

It appears it runs when it likes, does its' download thing and eats some data, then quietly shuts down again. With not a care of whether you want it to or not. I'm now going to phone Samsung.

Please be warned - AP Mobile may be merrily devouring your data allowance on 3G when you don't even think/know that you are running it. If I didn't have 3G Watchdog installed I would not have noticed it happening and may have ended up going over my allowance (at yesterday's rate this would have happened by Sunday) and that would result in costing me.

 

[heshanj]

thats insane, thanks for sharing i heard about this today too, in fact in another current thread on this forum as well.. but strangely, ive been using AP mobile for quite a while now, actually using the widget on my homescreen, and its been.. very well behaved. ive set it to update every 3 hours and it doesnt seem to hog more data than that. i'll monitor more carefully now n post back

EDIT: can someone link me the network usage app, i dont seem to be able to find it in the market

 

[marchag42]

Next I've tried adding the News widget back to my homescreen to see if I can get some control options from there and here is an odd result - the widget has been showing the "loading" message for the last 10 minutes and AP mobile is no longer running!

Ignore this bit, plain muppetry on my part

Call to Samsung Support; got the following advice:

1. Remove the widget from my homescreen. Not a fix as the widget was not actually on my homescreen.

(On hold while she checks it out)

2. Download APN Droid so that the phone asks permission to connect to 3G. Rejected this idea as a workaround rather than a fix as you cant do permissions by application (according to her).

(on hold while she checks it out)

3. Force Close the app. "This is the only way to stop it". Do I have to do this every day? asks me. No direct response.

I got her to create a ticket, suggested Samsung need to do a firmware upgrade and I asked if this was an issue Samsung were already aware of - "yes" was the response.

I've now put the AP Mobile widget on my homescreen, set Auto refresh to none (I didn't realise it was on 3 hours) and Widget Auto Scroll off, and removed it again. I'll monitor it and if it plays up I'll get back on to Samsung again.

Unfortunately if it does eat data on this scale again, without a proper fix (aside from rooting) the phone will be going back.

 

[Twinn]

Apart from rooting u can always disable data connection and enable it only when u need it at least thats the way i do it. I know it`s not a perfect solution for AP Mobile but since u dont want to root ur phone and samsung didnt solve this issue yet, i guess thats most reasonable way

 

[Miths000]

I use Traffic Monitor from RadioOpt - it allows you to see a complete breakdown of wifi and 3G traffic for individual apps.

 

[heshanj]

i just noticed that AP mobile is high on my wifi usage list.. about 7mb after installing the app, thats around a day. however, Pulse and google reader both have around the same amount of usage

 

[marchag42]

Thought I'd give a quick update on progress on the last couple of days:

I've installed the following apps to monitor usage (thanks for the suggestions):

My Data Manager
TrafficStats Lite
Network Usage
Juice Defender

Probably overkill but I wanted to view the same basic info from a few different sources. I've also set 3G Watchdog to auto disable 3G via Juicedefender at 98% quota.

Since I switched the AP Mobile app settings to auto refresh - None, and switched off auto scrolling the app is showing as active but has not instigated any data traffic, nor has it been appearing in my battery usage (showed 16% at one point). Need more time to be sure, but I think the battery lasted longer yesterday as well and I only used 4MB on 3G!

Hopefully this means I wont have to keep switching 3G on and off manually, which I recognise was a viable workaround but not really desirable on a

 

[heshanj]

just a side note. i noticed that Network Usage had used up 13% of my battery since i installed it.. removed immediately. its a good app to check out wats using ur network but it seems to eat ur battery. my android OS usage during that period was just around 18%

 

[marchag42]

just a side note. i noticed that Network Usage had used up 13% of my battery since i installed it.. removed immediately. its a good app to check out wats using ur network but it seems to eat ur battery. my android OS usage during that period was just around 18%

Thanks, Heshanj. Just checked my stats based on your post and it was at 9%. I've uninstalled and will monitor using TrafficStats Lite and My Data Manager. Will take a look at Traffic Monitor.

 

[heshanj]

cheers i see its not just on my phone then! i think i tried traffic monitor, its a widget.. not a standalone app (unless ive got the names mixed up, there are so many!) i'll take a look at the others u've mentioned

 

[Twinn]

i tried traffic monitor but imho it drains battery... just be aware of such possibility

 

[Miths000]

cheers i see its not just on my phone then! i think i tried traffic monitor, its a widget.. not a standalone app (unless ive got the names mixed up, there are so many!) i'll take a look at the others u've mentioned

It's a widget, but if you click one of the icons on the widget you will get a page showing traffic for individual apps.

 

[mdoo81]

Samsung Galaxy S2 2.3.3 Hi, I am having a similar difficult with high data stage. My Data Manager is telling me that OS Services has used a huge amount of data today, nothing like i have ever used in the past - almost 200mb. I have a 3GB plan and use mostly 3G network as i don't have WI-FI. In the past i never had the need to turn off my data connection and use it regularly for email, internet, tango, viper & maps. Is there a way to find out what part of the OS Services has suddenly started consuming this amount of data? My months plan started on the 9th of January and already my data usage is 600mb. I was using Words with Friends earlier in the month but when i noticed it using a large amount of data i un-installed it. As far as i can tell i have not changed any other settings since the end of my last billing period. Thanks.

 

[Kaitain]

My Data Manager is telling me that OS Services has used a huge amount of data today, nothing like i have ever used in the past - almost 200mb.

I am also seeing this in the last few days. I am guessing it is either a new app or app update, or...is it possible Google is rolling something out?

Whatever it is, it's ignoring my wifi connection and insisting on 3G usage.

On Onavo and 3G watchdog, it's listed under the umbrella of "OS services + others", but I can't get any more detail than that.

 

[Frisco]

The data watch apps and widgets available in Android Market can give users a fairly good over view of data usage on the fly. But they use data.

Sudden data consumption with no change in configuration of weather apps or other syncing apps and widgets such as Gmail and Facebook, etc, can sometimes be attributed to a portion of a scrip still running that was run across in and ad or multimedia page via the browser.

Clearing cache and data using the application manager in all internet apps may put a stop to that unwanted data stream. If that's the case, it may be prudent to go into the browser's menus and disallow flash and or images, etc temporarily just to see if that's the culprit.

 

[Chas4273]

I am a new SGS2 owner (1 week) and have been experiencing the sudden high data use problem, too. Most days a 2-10 MB is sent in one big chunk but this morning a 232MB file was sent--all happened right after I leave wireless service.

So tonight, after getting a text from AT&T saying I was over my monthly 200MB limit, I called their tech support. The rep asked if I shutdown my phone every day, which I had only done once since I owned the phone. The rep said that the phone logs data usage, compounding onto the previous usage info, until it 'sends out the data to them'. So he claims that my data log builds up and up and then dumps in a big chunk, and that shutting down the phone will clear the old data log which will keep the daily log small--and if that doesn't fix it then it may be a hardware problem requiring replacement. He also asked other stuff like having wireless in never sleep mode, no sync, etc. (which I had those already set to no sleep/sync). Also, I did get a credit for my inconvenience so that was good.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I installed 3G Watchdog (free) and Phoneusage to monitor usage. Should know for sure within 2 days whether or not that is the fix.

 

[Russell Ng]

I don't think the explanation makes much sense. 232MB is rather big for that. It feels like a game file actually.

Anyway, you should get the 3G watchdog pro if you want to see data usage by app. Second, off the data line when not in use.

Cheers

 

[Chas4273]

Shutting down the phone appears to have helped some but there's still data going out, just not as much. So far, after having the phone shutdown/restarted for about 24 hours, here's the data usage:

3G Watchdog(free) shows 1.26MB sent/received, about half each way
Phoneusage shows 580KB sent/received, about half each way

AT&T online is only up to date for the first 19 hours, and shows 783KB sent with the largest packet being 688KB (and again, sent right after I left the house/wifi). I did not use my phone for anything today when away from wifi other than to check Watchdog, Phoneusage and Battery Info multiple times each.

All of the apps I have installed so far are free versions. The only games I play are Words and Quazzle, and I have only made a couple of turns in Words when not on wifi, and have only played a couple games of Quazzle when not at home. So I don't see how these could make the 232MB file sent. But, tonight I realized that I was still logged in to the Latitude app so maybe that was it (I checked it out the first day I had the phone and forgot about it).

I do close apps after I use them, but from looking at Battery Info it appears that some apps use battery even when the app isn't open, and the shutdown seems to clear those out. I will keep monitoring the data usage.

 

[Russell Ng]

Yeah... It might be the Latitude app. Widgets like weather and the AP mobile uses data when refreshing. So maybe you can change the settings to manual or more hours apart. Also emails. A lot of android apps have advertisement, so its better to off data when not using or playing with the apps.

Seems reasonable for a few kb each way everyday.

Cheers