[Q] High Android OS Background Data Usage - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Since a few days ago, Android OS has been using an extreme amount of background data. I have never had this issue before. I did some research and found a ton of conflicting things about this supposedly common error. Does anyone have any idea how to fix it?
I have tried turning location off, still uses data. I have tried turning sync off, still uses data. I've tried using third party apps to track and see what is causing the problem, no luck.

Wiping cache & Dalvik cache can help correct this. Do you have root / custom recovery?

pc103 said:
Wiping cache & Dalvik cache can help correct this. Do you have root / custom recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I do. Dalvik and cache has been wiped several times already, but I will try it again and see if it works.

I tried wiping cache and dalvik. Didn't do anything. This is ridiculous... My little bitty data allowance disappearing because of a stupid bug...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Have you checked the list of apps below the usage graph in Settings / Data usage?
Be sure to place a check mark in Mobile data in the upper right.
Scroll down the list, tap on each major app & consider limiting its background data usage to wifi with the individualized Restrict background data setting.

You could use an app like Network Log to at least see what Android System is connecting to, might narrow down what's causing the issue.

Yes, I have looked there. I have limited everything I can think of. The problem is, it says Android os is the app using the data and I can't limit that app. And I will install that app and see what I can see.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

You can read up on using Better Battery Stats at its excellent xda thread.
This could help especially if the detail on Android OS in Settings / Battery usage shows excessive wake time.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

use a firewall app to block internet access to all the apps except the ones you use

I've tried doing that. I just can't block access to android os.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

This is ridiculous. My tablet never used this much data before. Android OS is the worst, but Google play services are using a lot too.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

It must me something else.
Data usage displayed by each application when summed up don't give even half of global amount used.
Something like:
Google play - 2Mb, Chrome - 5Mb, Android OS - 4Mb, some other apps - 300Kb each, together - 45Mb !!!
Where 20+ Mb has gone - no idea.
There is option to stop background data usage but then phone is almost useless.
BTW:
I don't have any sync to network drive, no FB, no mail or other regular checking.

Bobby060 said:
Since a few days ago, Android OS has been using an extreme amount of background data. I have never had this issue before. I did some research and found a ton of conflicting things about this supposedly common error. Does anyone have any idea how to fix it?
I have tried turning location off, still uses data. I have tried turning sync off, still uses data. I've tried using third party apps to track and see what is causing the problem, no luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I faced the same problem, issue was somewhat with auto backup of data, sync of app data & people details in google account,
BUT the main culprit in my case was uTorrent application.
Even though there was no torrent added to it, i didn't even opened it,
it was using 1GB data daily on WiFi and in data usage it was coming under Android OS usage. I uninstalled it, everything went back to normal.
So try to look for such apps which eat up your data in background, it may not be an error of android OS as such.
Hope this helps, Press THANKS if it did help you
Enjoy

Related

High Data Usage. Which app?

Hi @all,
I have a problem. I´ve got my mobile data flat today. Everything is working fine but my X10 (or an app) is transmitting all the time. In 5 hours 50MB had been transmitted without doing anything on the phone. The phone was only in idle mode on the desk.
So how to find out which app is transmitting? NetCounter only shows that 50MB are transmitted but not from which app.
So, the point is that my battery drains very fast.
And the second point is, that after 200MB my UMTS flat is converted to a GPRS flat.
Can you help me?
Quite a few people reported this problem with data transfer.
You might want to disable Automatic search for updates in Settings, About Phone, Software update and also somebody said that disabling google talk might help.
Give it a try.
Thx. How do I disable google talk?
I didn't try but i assume you can use a startup auditor or any other app to do that.
Uncheck it and then restart the phone.
I had the problem with the engadget widget.
With searching for updates and this app every day my mobile made up to 150mb traffic...
UserX10 said:
Thx. How do I disable google talk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable 'background data usage' under data synchronization in settings. Gtalk does infact use a lot of data... but you may also lose auto sync of your calendar due to this.
Hm... I don´t want to lose my calender sync. so I will keep this option on.
I made a Reset on my phone and will try to detect which app is causing this data usage by installing app by app and check the data transmission.
Seems, that an app caused the high data usage.
Since the reset (yesterday) the data usage is normal. I´ve now installed some basic apps like
Netcounter
Home++
Beautiful widgets
and everything is ok.
So now the phone is turned on since 18 hours with data enabled background data usage to sync gmail and calender and the used traffic is about 2 MB with updating the weather widget and received 4 mails.
So my conclusion is, that it has nothing to do with gmail/gtalk/calender sync.
Thanks anyway for all your help.
it was me that said google talk a few days ago caused me to use 70mb in about 6 hours, i now use an app called taskpanel and ive got google talk set to auto kill and everything else set to ignore. since then ive had no problems with data usage and all my calendars and mail etc works as it should.
UserX10 said:
Seems, that an app caused the high data usage.
Since the reset (yesterday) the data usage is normal. I´ve now installed some basic apps like
Netcounter
Home++
Beautiful widgets
and everything is ok.
So now the phone is turned on since 18 hours with data enabled background data usage to sync gmail and calender and the used traffic is about 2 MB with updating the weather widget and received 4 mails.
So my conclusion is, that it has nothing to do with gmail/gtalk/calender sync.
Thanks anyway for all your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im pretty sure if you started up google talk you would have the same problem again, ive been having it intermittently since i got the phone about twice every week but since i killed it its not happened once.
I´m not using Google Talk, so I have never started it bevore. But to be sure I will disable it by taskpanel.
GEEEEEZZZZZ
I just got my X10 three days ago, did the 2.1 upgrade two days ago and have already spent R150 just on data...its rediculous!!!!
Previously i had the Sony ericsson p1i and the X1i and didnt have this problem.
What app can i dounload to detect how much MB is being used and what app is using it.
How do i disable google talk?
khakhi said:
How do i disable google talk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the only way is to download an app from market called titanium backup
and select to disable (or uninstall it)
but to do it you will have to root your phone
If you remove gtalk you can't use market any more.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
its rediculous...there must be an app to block, limit data and tell us which app is consuming most MB.
PLS guys pls help me out...pls guys pls

[Q] Why is Android System using lots of Data?

I'm checking the Battery Manager and I am noticing that Android System is uploading a lot of data. I have searched around and some say it has to do with the "Back Up Data" option which I currently have turned off. I don't have any social networking apps updating nor do I have Google Latitude. I even tried turning off "Background Data" and disabling all syncing and it seems that the system is still uploading lots of data. By lots i mean like around 10-15MBs a day in terms of upload. It's also downloading data but its very little (under 1MB). What exactly is causing this?
Hmm it seems that Android is incorrectly reporting the sent data amounts by a lot. I just downloaded TrafficStats Lite and it says that in a 2 hour period I have only received 181kB and sent 17kB in total for the entire device but it reports that Android System has received 137kB and sent 1.7MB of data. So it must mean that our phone is reporting the sent data amounts incorrectly.
Just to be safe, I would recommend verifying which figure is correct. If you are not grandfathered into unlimited data, no sense risking a surprise bill.
--------------------
Sent from my Gingerbread-powered Droid X using a full featured version of Tapatalk, better known as Forum Runner.
Does TrafficStats app track data pretty accurately? My carrier here has a data counter thing but it isn't up to the minute and is delayed by about 4 hours.
i've never even seen android system in battery manager haha

[Q] How can we download certain apps in 4.0?

Is there a way to maybe spoof the Android Market so that we can download apps that it says we can't install because it's incompatible on the device? The main example is My Verizon because it's useful for monitoring data usage.
NoHolidaysForAHooker said:
Is there a way to maybe spoof the Android Market so that we can download apps that it says we can't install because it's incompatible on the device? The main example is My Verizon because it's useful for monitoring data usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used titanium backup And restored those apps..
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
If you are running ICS it has the data feature built into it.
System settings -> Data usage
xwhofarted said:
If you are running ICS it has the data feature built into it.
System settings -> Data usage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about everyone else, but that's never worked for me. I'm not really worried about it cause I have unlimited data, but if you do want the Verizon app you can always sideload it. I've seen the apk floating around various places.
So far, I've never had data usage actually actively work. Although oddly the wifi data usage operates correctly. I like the My Verizon app though because it tells you your actual usage from their side, as opposed to the 4.0 feature or an app like Onavo, which I'm using, that has inaccuracies.
I'm actually the person who asked for it in JT/TeamHacksung's thread on RootzWiki but I just realized I didn't word the thread correctly because I'm more trying to see how to update some of the apps that the Market says are incompatible.

How to break down Android OS data usage?

A common question I assume, but no good answers showed up on a quick search, everything was ad-hack, not really practical.
Since I got my SIII I've seen a large rise is the amount of data I'm using, also all of which is listed as Android OS and if I drill down it is all background. Is there a way to easily track down what is using so much background data? In my case the top app is Play with 51mb, but the Android OS background is at 2.8GB in 10 days, which is insane. Thus I'm looking for some way to break down what is using all of this data.
Thanks,
ERIC
settings/data usage shows a breakdown, or there are several apps on the market. Might be a Samsung account backing up data or Google, or drop box, piccassa web album, all these could use a fair bit, make sure they only synch on Wi-Fi, or ditch them, even better
My problem is that the it only shows up as Android OS and then if I select it as background data (none is foreground), all of that does not help as I still do not know the cause, I have setup blocks in Droidwall so that many Apps can only run on Wifi and according to the per app break down that's all fine (none exceed 50 or so megs) the problem is with background data usage by Android. I do have Kaspersky install, so I do not think it is coming from Malware, but .... starting to wonder if maybe a reinstall is in order, that's such a pain.
Current breakdown (1 day all in K unless stated otherwise):
Android OS: 238megs
Google Play Store: 1.48megs
Email: 774
GoogelServices: 152
Gmail: 133
Maps: 124
Google+ 80
Go Weather ex 70
...
so basically no app is using anything yet I've used 238megs.
Maybe it is a Google backup then, do you use that?
Thanks will try that (just disabled google sync),
I've tracked down it is a matter of large uploads normally 30 to 250 megs that occur in the over night hours (between 1Am and 6AM), but do not know the cause will see if that is it. Also odd that as the phone is connected to a Wifi connection during those hours, so it should not use any mobile data, also as if it is using mobile data when it should be using wifi, will see if I can verify whether this is the case or not tonight. I have 3g watchdog installed now so I can see if the traffic is wifi or cell.
ERIC
Maybe it is a Google backup then, do you use that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep that was the problem, moving massive amounts of data and not using the Wifi connection, turned it off and poof all gone.
ERIC
Sorry to bring this back from the dead but what did you disable exactly?
I think disabling the google backup would help, coz enabling it makes app data back up to google servers. If there's an app with a lot of app data, it can eat up your data bandwidth.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman
Hi,
I am using KITKAT ported by Legacy Xperia. Me too facing same problem. From starting, I have not enabled data backup. Still, for 10 days, Android OS consumed 9.5MB data. Look high side for me as I have only 500MB data / month.
Kindly let me know the solution.
egandt said:
A common question I assume, but no good answers showed up on a quick search, everything was ad-hack, not really practical.
Since I got my SIII I've seen a large rise is the amount of data I'm using, also all of which is listed as Android OS and if I drill down it is all background. Is there a way to easily track down what is using so much background data? In my case the top app is Play with 51mb, but the Android OS background is at 2.8GB in 10 days, which is insane. Thus I'm looking for some way to break down what is using all of this data.
Thanks,
ERIC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I faced the same problem, issue was somewhat with auto backup of data, sync of app data & people details in google account,
BUT the main culprit in my case was uTorrent application.
Even though there was no torrent added to it, i didn't even opened it,
it was using 1GB data daily on WiFi and in data usage it was coming under Android OS usage. I uninstalled it, everything went back to normal.
So try to look for such apps which eat up your data in background, it may not be an error of android OS as such.
Hope this helps, Press THANKS if it did help you
Enjoy

"Android OS" using too much Data in Background.

Hello, I am new to using Android and bought a Moto E (XT1022) when it was launched and I've been experiencing the problem of high data usage by "Android OS" since last month. It slows down the browsing/downloading speeds considerably and heading over to Settings>Data Usage tells me 'Android OS' is the culprit, it has no specific process listed in the apps and no restrict background data option either.
Tried following with no success:
Sync off
Backup & Restore disabled
Factory reset
Also used a NoRoot firewall to no avail.
Also disabled each every built-in application one by one and the constant background data usage by Android OS service still persists.
Apparently a lot of people have came up with the same problem. While either of the above solutions worked for some, they don't seem to work in this case.
No unlimited data availability here, so.. Help.
If you have Google plus then disable auto backup photos and video option, in most of the cases this will solve your problem
Prashanth Meesara: said:
If you have Google plus then disable auto backup photos and video option, in most of the cases this will solve your problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use Google+ and like I said , I disabled every app one by one and there was no effect at all on the data usage.
riptide11 said:
I don't use Google+ and like I said , I disabled every app one by one and there was no effect at all on the data usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try enabling restrict background data?
Prashanth Meesara: said:
Did you try enabling restrict background data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and that didn't work either. Apparently this service also bypasses firewall rules too.

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