Google Account Manager and KitKat Data Usage

[Lindsay0385]

Hello,

I have a brand new Nexus 5 with Cricket's $40 plan, so I get 500mb of LTE data speed a month (which is enough for me, as I'm usually on wifi). Coming from a old phone with Gingerbread, I'm still getting used to KitKat.

I've only had the phone for about one week, but according to My Data Manager, my data usage has been less than about 15mb a day. Today my data usage was over 50mb, without me even using my phone to search the internet and or running any data intensive apps.

Strangely, Google Account Manager used about 40mb in background tasks. On all the other days that I have had this phone, the Google Account Manager background data was less than 1mb. I cannot figure out the such a big difference in data usage. When I'm connected to Wifi, the Google Account Manager does not have this mb drain, at least according to the data tracking app.

Trying to figure this out, I've only done three different things on my phone, (1) I downloaded a rotating wallpaper app, (2) I added about 10gbs of music using the file transfer program and used Google Music on my phone for the first time, and (3) I used Google Drive on my phone for the first time and downloaded a 50mb file while on wifi last night.

I uninstalled the wallpaper app, thinking it might have been the issue, but it was still happening, so there must be some setting that I am missing that is causing the drain for either Google Music or Drive. I turned off some data sync in Accounts->Google, leaving only App Data and Gmail on, but the issue is still happening.

Any ideas out there? I know 50mb isn't a lot, but when it comes to only having 500mb for the month, it's a big deal to me.

Thanks for your help!

Lindsay

 

[John Bean]

You've already tried most of the things I would have suggested; perhaps you could try disabling background data on apps that you think don't need it. The apps will still use background data on wi-fi but not otherwise.

Go to Settings>Data Usage and tap on an app, then scroll down and tap on "Restrict background data" at the bottom of the screen.

 

[kate]

Another tip to save on data usage is to have the Google Play Store only update apps over WiFi - app updates can use tons of data. Here is how to change the Play Store settings for how apps are updated:

1. Open the Play Store.
2. In the top left corner tap the shopping bag.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Auto Update Apps.
5. Tap the option you want. The WiFi option will only use WiFi. "Update apps anytime" can use your mobile data. "Do not auto update apps" will not update any apps.

 

[Lindsay0385]

Well, I still wish I knew what extactly caused the drain in data. Kate, I already had that setting from when I first got the phone, but thanks for the help. John, I definitely think that setting helped, as my data usage has been much more reasonable in the past few days. I wonder if I can turn back on some data sync without having the same problem again, as I definitely want Google to backup my photos from my phone. I guess I'll try and see! Thank you!