Help Ridiculously high Android OS data usage?

[Deleted User]

My phone is a rooted Nexus 6 running PureNexus build version 6.0.1-20160723. I have been extremely happy with this phone and that build. Never had a single problem, until this month that is. I am on a Verizon prepaid account with 5gb of data.

In two days (Feb 4th and 5th) my phone used 4gb of for Android OS. And today it used another 1gb. I had just gotten Verizon to grant me 1gb of data yesterday to make it to the end of the month since it is my phone using it all at weird times. So now I am out of data again.

November Android OS usage 74.14mb
December Android OS usage 116mb
January Android OS usage 76.93mb
February Android OS usage 4.92gb

This is what I got off of my accounts data usage log.
02/18/2017 at 12:54:01 AM 997.59 MB
02/05/2017 at 05:16:16 AM 1272.04 MB
02/04/2017 at 09:46:54 PM 1179.36 MB
02/04/2017 at 07:18:31 AM 1584.15 MB

Anybody have any ideas as to what is going on? I haven't installed anything new or changed any settings. Literally everything on my phone is set exactly like it was for the past couple of months. I don't have any of the background backup stuff turned on. The time stamps are what is weird to me. I know for a fact that at those times my phone is connected to wifi when I am sleeping or I am at work and my phone is connected to wifi. The only time I use my data is when I am away from home or work.

I saw another thread about the high Android OS data usage but it didn't give any definitive answers.

 

[jj14x]

Based on the size, I wonder if it is trying to download an OS update, and is failing to install.
I see you are on a custom ROM - maybe it is still trying to download the regular OS update from Google, and fails when installing, and then retrying? Look thru' the options of your OS to see if you can disable the auto-download (or check with the Purenexus team to see what they suggest)

 

[fusioncat]

Dear all, i have confirmed the cause to be mock location app at least for my phone. For the last 3 days, i have disallowed all suspected app from using data, then slowly enable 1 by 1. I even restrict and then enable background data, google security check, etc. And ensure all update is only done via wifi.

I am able to replicate the data spike by simply turning on mock location app.

Hope other people can assist to explain why mock location cause a spike in Android OS data usage.

 

[ggxie]

I have exactly the same issue . Android OS uses 2G of data per night...I just started to notice this recently as I was on wi-fi most of the time. Then my home wi-fi was down and I woke up in the morning and was notified by my mobile data provider that all mobile data quota has been used up over night. I bought additional data thinking this is some kind of accident. And 200MB was gone at 2nd night too. (I still don't have wi-fi fixed). I started to monitor Android OS usage. This is not just for mobile data..It just uses whatever data source available....and strangely Android OS usage seems only happens at night. And at day, it even went decrease! this is completely weird. Please help!

 

[marctronixx]

Sounds like a rogue app.

Obviously this hasn't happened all the time and may only have occurred with the installation of an app or an update to an app.

Look in your list of apps and check out their usage. The OS shows you these things easily.

Until then, may be best to keep data off until you find the culprit.

 

[Avijit Roy Chowdhury]

I think your phone is automatically downloading data for moving to the upper version. Please check your phone’s setting. I think you will fix this problem.