Apps using more data than usual.

[J-L]

• My plan renewed at midnight. I just turned my phone on and a message popped up saying Apps have used more data than usual. I checked my plan and it says I have already used  113 MB of data. Can anyone tell me how I can find out which apps are using more data than usual ( why that might be happening?) And what can I do to stop it from happening short of deleting the apps? 

[darlicious]

@J-L 

Keep in mind that your service renews at midnight eastern. If you are west of Ontario your plan renews earlier than your time zone and your phones data tracker will not be completely accurate. I live in Vancouver so my plan renews at 9pm local time so my data tracker is off by 3 hours.

The background usage you are seeing was probably used before you turned off your background data. If you reinstall an app you also have to remember to turn off background usage again.

Here is some more tips on data usage that can help you conserve data usage and/or find where high data usage is coming from.....

1. Turn your data saver on.*
2. Set your data tracker to the correct calendar dates of your 30 day cycle.
3. Set your data warning. ( I set mine to 25% of plan data**.)
4. Set your data limiter. (I set mine to 50%.**)
5. Turn off all background data in your app usage settings.***
6. Set video content to play on wifi only ( or off altogether) in each individual app's settings.
7. Turn off wifi assist for iPhone or the Android equivalent.
8. For low data plans turn off mobile data and turn on when needed or to download MMS.
9. Use free wifi when available.
10. Double check that your phone is connected to wifi. Your phone can sometimes not automatically reconnect to wifi after rebooting, resetting or leaving/entering a wifi area.

*Android and iPhone's data saver tools work differently it is prudent to check settings in each phone's apps for such things as your photo app for device syncing, backing up etc.... Note: viewing or searching for backed up/stored photos can use considerable mobile data.

**Public Mobile sends out a text from 611 giving a warning at 75% and 95% of total data usage. If you have data add ons these warnings include both plan data and add on data.

**So if you just have 1gb of plan data you will get a warning at 756mb/1024mb and 973mb/1024mb. However if you have 1gb of plan data and a 5gb data add on (1024mb+5120mb=6144mb) these warnings will recieved at 4608mb/6144mb and 5837mb/6144mb respectively.

**This is why setting your data warning and limiter is important so that an errant app's sudden usage can be noticed and/or stopped by your phone's data usage tools rather than relying on pm's limited warnings system.

***Background data can use up to 38% of your data that is pure wastage.

Get in the habit of taking screenshots of your overview page and payment history before and after renewal for record keeping and checking that your data and/or limited minute/text counter resets.

[softech]

The small amount of data consumption.. especially for default apps like Messages could be used when phone started/rebooted.    Also, i think apps like Messages get pushed instead of just pulled.  So, even with background data disabled, you can still receive sms or mms.. 

[J-L]

They are all set to disabled, but here's an example of one.... Messages is set to disabled use of data in background but it has used 22+kb ( I understand that's not a lot but if use of background data is disabled it should not be using any data at all) I don't use messages ( I can't remove it as it came preloaded on the phone) I use Textra. 

[softech]

From Setting->app, 

do in to those app and see if it is set to disable for "Allow background data usage"

[barrascuk]

If you are using an iPhone. 

1. Only turn data on when you need to use it 

2. Don't assume your data is not being used when in range of WiFi

3. Turn off apps from being used with data*

4. Turn off background updates on data....allow that for when on WiFi only

* only have specific apps allowing use of data. 

[J-L]

@softech  so that's another app I will have to download then right ?🤣

I did check your first suggestion and found that a few apps (chrome, music -which I never use, photos, and a couple others) have used background data even though I have previously disabled the use of background data, and it says background data is restricted. If use of background data is turned off how are they still using it and how can I stop this from happening?

[softech]

@J-L the default page with Android is not perfect.. also it's trouble that it tracks monthly and not 30 days cycle like PM, so, you have to manually change the date

Consider use 3rd part app which does 30 days cycle, like Data Counter Widget and Data Witness PM.  You setup the cycle day once and then it will change cycle every 30 days

[Anonymous]

@J-L 

visit  Here link  to Managing Your Data Usage, and to save it your data...

[J-L]

@softech thank you for the quick reply. Yes I'm on Android. Thank you for the screen shot, I find visuals always help lol. I will check that. 

[softech]

Are you on Android?  

If so, the Mobile Data page has a setting, just set the cycle start date to today, it will tell you how much you used and which app used the data.  Something like this: