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Help Ridiculous android OS data use

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OS data use

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This problem has only started a couple days ago, when I got an alert that I passed my data limit, then 2 hours later that I had passed the 1 gigabyte extra limit. I'm on vacation so there's not much time to use WiFi. I have never had this problem before. I go into my settings and this is what I see. I have no clue what's going on and so far I'm out 40 bucks cause of going over the limit. This is insane, almost 4 gigabytes in 3 days, what the hell is happening? I've deleted numerous apps and the only thing that stops this is restricting background data.
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Try going into the more menu from your screen shot. Look for a setting like "restrict background data".
Also, has your *phone* taken a recent update? Some times your *carrier* will push an update over a data connection.
Also makes sure the Playstore is set to update apps over WiFi only.
 
I've set restrict background data on and it does stop the OS from eating data. I was thinking it might be because it's downloading an update, last update was September 25.
 
I've set restrict background data on and it does stop the OS from eating data. I was thinking it might be because it's downloading an update, last update was September 25.

You will lose some functionality with background restricted. Things like location, SMS/MMS, and time settings. Google Play Services does not like being restricted.
This is a temporary fix. You can try to toggle it on after a bit to see if it is still acting up.
Also, if it's an update it's the biggest I've seen.
Like Chan Chan suggested see if your devices backup is running and you should have Sync Off when not on a WiFi connection.
 
This is insane. 4.54 gigabytes, looks like restricting background data doesn't help. I turned off sync and I'll see if that was the culprit.
 

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This is insane. 4.54 gigabytes, looks like restricting background data doesn't help. I turned off sync and I'll see if that was the culprit.
If you want you can switch on airplane mode. This will shut off everything. You can turn WiFi back on for internet if it's available. Then maybe turn airplane mode off occasionally to check messages and such.
Sounds like your phone doesn't like being on vacation.
 
I've got some dinky RV park WiFi now, in the morning I'll let it run off 4g again for a bit and see what happens, will report back to you guys. Thanks for the help so far.
 
Airplane mode time. Your probably going to need to do the factory reset. Or flash factory firmware. I don't even know what phone you have or Carrier, Android version.......
 
Already did the reset and no luck, looks like it eats data up at a rate of 10mb a minute. I have the S7 with Verizon. Even when on WiFi it continues to eat memory (doesn't really matter on WiFi) but taking into account WiFi usage it whatever it is has used about 15 gigabytes of data. What the hell could be that big?
 
Pikek, it was pikek. I deleted it and switched it to the normal kik messenger and all the data eating seems to have stopped. No clue why this happened, maybe it was some kind of effort by the official Kik people to get people away from pikek. Will report back if anything else happens but it looks like it's fixed. Thanks for your help I really do appreciate it.
 
Get used to this, it happens to lots of people, it is not back ups, and not updates. No explanation from Google, silence from carriers. You can search all over the Internet to see it happens to many phones, many models and brands, also most versions of Android, No real patterns to it. Lots of people think they know what it is, none of them really do. I've seen my tablet use 26Gb of data in one month, more than 10Gb several times. If you call for tech support, they'll just have you reset the phone, they have no idea what it is. It may go away, it may not. I researched online hundreds of times across more than 10 forums, no definitive answer. You'll only find the same moronic advice from ignorant people whon assume they know the problem. I suspect it is some kind of distributed computing, surveillance, or a bug in the Android kernel that is being kept quiet. Good luck. This happens to phones, tablets, wifi, lte, cellular, there seems no pattern. I have never found a definitive reason, just randon assumptions and guesswork. Welcome to the world of corporate incompetence and lies.
 
My tablet uses more data than all other devices on my network, including multiple systems. I tried resetting, even removing several core Android services and apps. You can search online for many other reported cases of this supposedly completely unknown issue. Like I said before, it has already been proven not to be backups, sync, or updates. Let us know if you find anything substantial. This happens from Android 4.2 through Android 7, across multiple makes, brands, and carriers. Some people have been charged hundreds of dollars of data fees, while getting only wild guesswork from tech support as to the cause.

There ARE a few patterns. It is always background data use by the arbitrary "android.os" core servivce, and always unclear what that actually is. It must be something that common to all brands and models from Android 4 thru 7, so it is very unlikely an app you installed or a common setting. Until this annoys an Android developer who will finally get to the task of reverse engineering the cause, then is brave enough to go public with the results, we are unllikely to find out. Go on, search online for 'android os high data use', or 'high android os background data use'. You'll find some posts, only to find others claiming contradicting solutions. Lots of people who think they know, but don't. Read enough about this, and you'll find posts that state wildly differing causes and solutions. Many posts are simply unanswered, or closed with no solution. Read into that what you will.
 
So the common factor is they're all on Verizon is it?

Frankly I've never had anything like this before with many different devices, including a Samsung Note7 I had for a few weeks, and I don't know anyone else who's had this happening either. No Verizon around here of course. I know there have been reports of certain US carriers forcing OTA updates for their version phones.
 
Like I SAID, it applies to multiple carriers, devices, models, and Android versions. Also it happens to some, and never seen by others. Where did you pull out "Verizon" from?
 
Like I SAID, it applies to multiple carriers, devices, models, and Android versions. Also it happens to some, and never seen by others. Where did you pull out "Verizon" from?
By what that XDA thread is about and the only carrier that's been mentioned here, i.e. Verizon. However I've read reports here on AF of Sprint version devices consuming large amounts of wireless data during forced OTA updates.

I'm in China myself, and have just never come across anything like this at all, not with anything I've had, any Android version. So can only surmise it's a problem related to certain US carrier version devices.

In fact I just checked the data usage on the phone I've got, an Oppo R7 Plus, and the Android OS itself has consumed 1.2MB in five days. And the Samsung Note7 I had didn't consume much either, but that device has gone back now for much publicised reasons. The Oppo is on 5.1.1, and the Samsung was on 6.0.1. The phone I was using last year, another Oppo, the system itself only ever consumed a minimal amount of wireless data. And I know plenty of other people with various devices, who've not experienced things like this either. Devices being Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Meizu, Lenovo, ZTE, Oppo, Vivo, etc.
 
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That is just the carrier that commentator uses. I have seen many other posts from others, with different carriers, even different countries, and in other languages as well. Like I stated, I cannot find any common patterns other than this being an Android issue. No one seems to know why. But, the issue is eating up massive bandwidth, and the precise reason is hidden within an arbitrary shroud called 'android.os' that could be nearly anything. Many people may never even notice the issue, or assume it is something else.

You'll find the same issue on German, and Koren tech forums also. Also, you being in China likely means some of the search results are unavailable to you because of government firewall systems.
 
That is just the carrier that commentator uses. I have seen many other posts from others, with different carriers, even different countries, and in other languages as well. Like I stated, I cannot find any common patterns other than this being an Android issue. No one seems to know why. But, the issue is eating up massive bandwidth, and the precise reason is hidden within an arbitrary shroud called 'android.os' that could be nearly anything. Many people may never even notice the issue, or assume it is something else.

There was an issue last week actually, 700MB consumed by Android OS, but at the same time the hotspot service was also showing 700MB, because they were tethering something.

Are you streaming anything at all, like YouTube, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, etc. using a bloatware system app?

If it had been a widespread general issue with any devices, I'm sure I'd have read about it here on AF, I have been a member for six years, with 18,000+ posts.

You'll find the same issue on German, and Koren tech forums also. Also, you being in China likely means some of the search results are unavailable to you because of government firewall systems.

For your information,. :thumbsupdroid:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network
vpn.jpg

Google is blocked by the government here, and UNICOM is a Chinese carrier.



BTW I can't read German nor Korean, so never look at those. I'm English and Chinese only.
 
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I do sometimes stream movies, but I can account for that data in the logs. The android.os core service uses Gigbytes of data over and above that. Yet, there are no changed files, and no gained or lost storage space. All backups and sync has been disabled, and I have deleted many of the core apps that were included with the system. Also, if it were streaming video, then the people who sis not stream video, would not have the problem, and that is not the case.

If Google has been blocked in your country, that would also rule out that Google is not the cause of the data leak. If your government blocks connection to the Google servers, then they cannot be causeing the issue, so this is useful information. What else can we compare that will help?
 
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