Help Android os steels my gb

[moose99]

Hey.
Everything was fine when i got the phone to april 12th.
Between april 13th and april 19th android os has taken 5 gb of
my network usage :/ i cant find out where it takes all the gb.
I dont have any sync on and turned off all location options and
sending stuff to google servers, it still keep sending somewhere.
Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[s.m.knipe]

Hey.
Everything was fine when i got the phone to april 12th.
Between april 13th and april 19th android os has taken 5 gb of
my network usage :/ i cant find out where it takes all the gb.
I dont have any sync on and turned off all location options and
sending stuff to google servers, it still keep sending somewhere.
Does anyone else have this problem?

Welcome! and congratulations, it sounds like you have a "rogue" app- essentially an app that keeps trying to do something like connect to a server and send data. You did well, making sure all syncs are disabled, but not all Third-party apps report to that in settings... You say "Android OS" so I am guessing you got that from Settings -> Data Usage ... Tap the little horizontal bar graph where it says "Android OS" and can you tell us how much of it is "Foreground" and how much is "Background" processes? Also, look through that list (where you see "Android OS" topping the charts), do you see a "Rosie" or "Sense"?

Android OS should be all background processes (or at least mostly background), and I have a sneaking suspicion that it is either Widgets (I asked about Sense or Rosie to see if Sense is rolled into "Android OS" or separate)
or some service like Dropbox syncing... Another possibility might be an email inbox full of imbedded files instead of attachments... Give us whatever details you can, but it might be simpler to just do a factory reset (this will delete your apps but restore your system to a like-new condition; and typically in ICS most of your market apps will download to your phone once you log into the play Store) Actually- it might be that, how many apps do you have that it would have sent to your device? Could you do the reset and then set the phone up over wifi to eliminate initial syncing as a possibility?

 

[moose99]

Welcome! and congratulations, it sounds like you have a "rogue" app- essentially an app that keeps trying to do something like connect to a server and send data. You did well, making sure all syncs are disabled, but not all Third-party apps report to that in settings... You say "Android OS" so I am guessing you got that from Settings -> Data Usage ... Tap the little horizontal bar graph where it says "Android OS" and can you tell us how much of it is "Foreground" and how much is "Background" processes? Also, look through that list (where you see "Android OS" topping the charts), do you see a "Rosie" or "Sense"?

Android OS should be all background processes (or at least mostly background), and I have a sneaking suspicion that it is either Widgets (I asked about Sense or Rosie to see if Sense is rolled into "Android OS" or separate)
or some service like Dropbox syncing... Another possibility might be an email inbox full of imbedded files instead of attachments... Give us whatever details you can, but it might be simpler to just do a factory reset (this will delete your apps but restore your system to a like-new condition; and typically in ICS most of your market apps will download to your phone once you log into the play Store) Actually- it might be that, how many apps do you have that it would have sent to your device? Could you do the reset and then set the phone up over wifi to eliminate initial syncing as a possibility?

Thanks for taking your time and write back.
I always make sure the apps i download isnt running in the background.
These are the apps i have downloaded, es file explorer, eurosport, facebook, go sms pro, imdb, mx videoplayer, power controls, spotify, veetle, who called, whatsapp, and every app is off, not running.
Yea its that graph thing i got that android os is taking all my gb's.
It says foreground: 0,00 gb and background 4,57 gb.
What do u mean with "Rosie" or "Sense"?
I dont see them up there, and i only use one widget which is calender.
Dropbox i have uninstalled.
I dont wanna reset my phone yet i wanna figure out the problem first,
and i have so many settings on some apps that cant be backed up, it
would take so long to get it like i have it now

 

[sleedeane]

Welcome! and congratulations, it sounds like you have a "rogue" app- essentially an app that keeps trying to do something like connect to a server and send data. You did well, making sure all syncs are disabled, but not all Third-party apps report to that in settings... You say "Android OS" so I am guessing you got that from Settings -> Data Usage ... Tap the little horizontal bar graph where it says "Android OS" and can you tell us how much of it is "Foreground" and how much is "Background" processes? Also, look through that list (where you see "Android OS" topping the charts), do you see a "Rosie" or "Sense"?

Android OS should be all background processes (or at least mostly background), and I have a sneaking suspicion that it is either Widgets (I asked about Sense or Rosie to see if Sense is rolled into "Android OS" or separate)
or some service like Dropbox syncing... Another possibility might be an email inbox full of imbedded files instead of attachments... Give us whatever details you can, but it might be simpler to just do a factory reset (this will delete your apps but restore your system to a like-new condition; and typically in ICS most of your market apps will download to your phone once you log into the play Store) Actually- it might be that, how many apps do you have that it would have sent to your device? Could you do the reset and then set the phone up over wifi to eliminate initial syncing as a possibility?

Excuse me. May I ask a teensy question, albeit straying away from you 2's conversation, just a little?
I see you guys are talking about HTC, so maybe you can't or can tell me where to find foreground/background running apps info on the Samsung S2?
(There is no settings> data usage).

Sorry to be in the wrong forum (on my phone, all I know is that its in the "unread" topics list of new threads in general).
(I've been bugging a few guys in the Samsung forum, and I'm giving them a break from me for a little while).

All you "techies" are so awesome to give us your time, and I don't want to out-stay my welcome with any of you.

I know. I'm the problem poster.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Excuse me. May I ask a teensy question, albeit straying away from you 2's conversation, just a little?
I see you guys are talking about HTC, so maybe you can't or can tell me where to find foreground/background running apps info on the Samsung S2?
(There is no settings> data usage).

Sorry to be in the wrong forum (on my phone, all I know is that its in the "unread" topics list of new threads in general).
(I've been bugging a few guys in the Samsung forum, and I'm giving them a break from me for a little while).

All you "techies" are so awesome to give us your time, and I don't want to out-stay my welcome with any of you.

I know. I'm the problem poster.

It is part of the ICS update. Once you update your phone it will be there.

 

[s.m.knipe]

Thanks for taking your time and write back.
I always make sure the apps i download isnt running in the background.
These are the apps i have downloaded, es file explorer, eurosport, facebook, go sms pro, imdb, mx videoplayer, power controls, spotify, veetle, who called, whatsapp, and every app is off, not running.
Yea its that graph thing i got that android os is taking all my gb's.
It says foreground: 0,00 gb and background 4,57 gb.
What do u mean with "Rosie" or "Sense"?
I dont see them up there, and i only use one widget which is calender.
Dropbox i have uninstalled.
I dont wanna reset my phone yet i wanna figure out the problem first,
and i have so many settings on some apps that cant be backed up, it
would take so long to get it like i have it now

Okay, that is an extremely high number for background data, and confirms my fears- that this is beyond me for a technical reason/fix. If you don't see either "Sense" or "Rosie" (HTC's once-upon-a-time internal code name for the Sense UI) listed out separately then I would wager it is rolled into "Android OS," and seeing that even with all syncing turned on my vanilla Nexus' "Android OS" usage is in the MB range, something in Sense is syncing/sending data.
If you can bear with it another day, grab a logcat app (such as CatLog) from the market, and post the logs for a time period where you notice a lot of data usage... maybe then we can spot the culprit...

 

[Deleted User]

Friend Stream? it could also be Facebook/Twitter/Google+ syncing contacts, etc.

 

[sleedeane]

It is part of the ICS update. Once you update your phone it will be there.

Whenever that'll be available (except for hacks)

 

[s.m.knipe]

Friend Stream? it could also be Facebook/Twitter/Google+ syncing contacts, etc.

I've thought about this, all of those except Friendstream should show up under their own heading-not Android OS, even for contact sync. Friendstream is a part of Sense and probably would be rolled into that, but I can't imagine 5 GBs of social media downloads...

I know it's painful but I think a complete wipe (reset) is the best bet. It is not something that is widespread, so something is wrong in the system files on that device. A reflashing of the ROM should replace all those files correctly...

If we could get a log file it is still possible that there is a single perpetrator that can be eliminated, but with each day that data usage is going to climb higher and higher...

 

[sleedeane]

I've thought about this, all of those except Friendstream should show up under their own heading-not Android OS, even for contact sync. Friendstream is a part of Sense and probably would be rolled into that, but I can't imagine 5 GBs of social media downloads...

I know it's painful but I think a complete wipe (reset) is the best bet. It is not something that is widespread, so something is wrong in the system files on that device. A reflashing of the ROM should replace all those files correctly...

If we could get a log file it is still possible that there is a single perpetrator that can be eliminated, but with each day that data usage is going to climb higher and higher...

Watchdog wouldn't help anything?
I don't know what it does, just what I've read.
I guess it can recognize rogue spps? I really haven't a clue, though.

 

[moose99]

Okay, that is an extremely high number for background data, and confirms my fears- that this is beyond me for a technical reason/fix. If you don't see either "Sense" or "Rosie" (HTC's once-upon-a-time internal code name for the Sense UI) listed out separately then I would wager it is rolled into "Android OS," and seeing that even with all syncing turned on my vanilla Nexus' "Android OS" usage is in the MB range, something in Sense is syncing/sending data.
If you can bear with it another day, grab a logcat app (such as CatLog) from the market, and post the logs for a time period where you notice a lot of data usage... maybe then we can spot the culprit...

I did a reset of the phone like u said but the problem is still there.
So im thinking its facebook cause i had sync data there on my contacts
but 180 mb of syncing contacts is wierd :/
I reset the phone this weekend so havent tried out 3G yet but ill make a post
if the problem is still there. And i have inactivated friendstream also.

 

[s.m.knipe]

I did a reset of the phone like u said but the problem is still there.
So im thinking its facebook cause i had sync data there on my contacts
but 180 mb of syncing contacts is wierd :/
I reset the phone this weekend so havent tried out 3G yet but ill make a post
if the problem is still there. And i have inactivated friendstream also.

Hmm... facebook syncing should show up under its own app's statistic... Just out of curiosity how many friends do you have, 180 MB is pretty high. I guess the quick test would be to keep friendstream inactive and uninstall the facebook app for like a day; and watch your usage throughout the day...

Out of curiosity, go to Settings -> Backup & Reset and see if "Back up my data" is checked... if it is, uncheck it and see if that helps. According to this thread that helped some members with similar symptoms with the Galaxy Nexus...

 

[s.m.knipe]

Watchdog wouldn't help anything?
I don't know what it does, just what I've read.
I guess it can recognize rogue spps? I really haven't a clue, though.

Watchdog probably would (I don't really have experience with it), but I think the most specific it would get would be "Android OS" just like the stock app... Although it would (I think) show where the data is going to and maybe what data is going across...

 

[moose99]

Hmm... facebook syncing should show up under its own app's statistic... Just out of curiosity how many friends do you have, 180 MB is pretty high. I guess the quick test would be to keep friendstream inactive and uninstall the facebook app for like a day; and watch your usage throughout the day...

Out of curiosity, go to Settings -> Backup & Reset and see if "Back up my data" is checked... if it is, uncheck it and see if that helps. According to this thread that helped some members with similar symptoms with the Galaxy Nexus...

Yeah i have already done that, read that thread before i posted this thread.
That didnt help to uncheck the sync on facebook and inactivate friendstream,
i had 178mb 15 min ago and now i have 229 mb so must be something else :/
I will try to delete facebook and see if that helps.
I have 246 friends on facebook.

 

[s.m.knipe]

Yeah i have already done that, read that thread before i posted this thread.
That didnt help to uncheck the sync on facebook and inactivate friendstream,
i had 178mb 15 min ago and now i have 229 mb so must be something else :/
I will try to delete facebook and see if that helps.
I have 246 friends on facebook.

Well, I guess the only way we have left of checking this would be for you to download the Catlog app from the play store (its free), and sometime when you just let the phone sit (like overnight) go back and grab the log files during that time period and then we can see what processes are sending data and where it is going...

This is most odd, especially recurring after reflashing the system image...

 

[moose99]

Well, I guess the only way we have left of checking this would be for you to download the Catlog app from the play store (its free), and sometime when you just let the phone sit (like overnight) go back and grab the log files during that time period and then we can see what processes are sending data and where it is going...

This is most odd, especially recurring after reflashing the system image...

Yea i can do that.
Heres something wierd, i grabbed watchdog and i left the internet app in background (original internet app)
and after a couple of minutes 20 mb just disappeard :/

 

[s.m.knipe]

Yea i can do that.
Heres something wierd, i grabbed watchdog and i left the internet app in background (original internet app)
and after a couple of minutes 20 mb just disappeard :/

Awesome... hopefully this can be identified and save you the hassle of a return/exchange...

Okay, just for clarification by "internet app" do you mean the browser? And when you say "just disappeared" you mean was used, right?

Thanks for your patience while we try to figure this out for you...

 

[moose99]

Awesome... hopefully this can be identified and save you the hassle of a return/exchange...

Okay, just for clarification by "internet app" do you mean the browser? And when you say "just disappeared" you mean was used, right?

Thanks for your patience while we try to figure this out for you...

Yea exactlly

 

[moose99]

Its not facebook thats for sure, i uninstalled it and after a while 30 mb was gone.
How can it be the browser thats causing all this :/