"Android OS" using huge amounts of wifi data (70+ GB)

irishpancake

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

No. Oneplus one direct from manufacturer.

But it was happening on your previous phone too?

And just on Home WiFi, not on Mobile Data?

On that Telegram App, a Turkish guy on Voda published stuff here, regarding background data leak with that App, but it was just Mobile/Cellular....

https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram/issues/1089

Your problem certainly is weird....

do you use it on Mobile data at all, just for comparison??

Or on WiFi Hotspots, hotels, airport, shopping centre.....does the same data usage happen when using other than your own home wifi network?


The leak has to be from some app.....or process, which will use local wifi but not mobile data.

That should restrict which apps are involved.


Are you rooted?

Can you make a Nandroid, to restore your data from where you are now, then do a factory reset, without restoring any user apps, and then see what happens?

You could also use Nandroid Manager to restore backed up user apps systematically, one by one, and try to catch the offending one.....

If you had your old phone still, you could try some stuff???

Like rooting, factory resetting, checking with just system apps, then systematic restore of user apps, etc, etc....

Keep us informed....it's interesting

mass_debater

Do a factory reset

irishpancake

mass_debater wrote: »

Do a factory reset

Have you read the thread?

mass_debater

irishpancake wrote: »

Have you read the thread?

Yes I did, do a factory reset and don't restore apps

yllw.ldbttr

mass_debater wrote: »

Yes I did, do a factory reset and don't restore apps

That might temporarily solve the problem but since it's happened with my last handset as well I'd like to try figure out the cause before jumping the gun.

yllw.ldbttr

irishpancake wrote: »

But it was happening on your previous phone too?

And just on Home WiFi, not on Mobile Data?

Just on wifi, interestingly, not on wifi connections that I flag as metered.

irishpancake wrote: »

On that Telegram App, a Turkish guy on Voda published stuff here, regarding background data leak with that App, but it was just Mobile/Cellular....

https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram/issues/1089

I uninstalled that for a night and my data consumption continued unfortunately.

irishpancake wrote: »

do you use it on Mobile data at all, just for comparison??

Around 2-3GB per month

irishpancake wrote: »

Are you rooted?

Unfortunately not.

irishpancake wrote: »

Keep us informed....it's interesting

Will do, thanks for the advice.

Professey Chin

Would you have a lot of videos recorded on your phone? I'm starting to become convinced its a background backup set to only run under wifi. What do you have enabled to Sync on your google account?

yllw.ldbttr

Professey Chin wrote: »

Would you have a lot of videos recorded on your phone? I'm starting to become convinced its a background backup set to only run under wifi. What do you have enabled to Sync on your google account?

I had a lot on my old device because I was using a One Second A Day app to record the first year of my daughter's life but not anymore.

The data we're talking about here is more than 80GB though, so more than I'd have had stored on any phone.

All syncing to google is turned off, apps, drive, gmail, photos, all turned off.

yllw.ldbttr

Ok, i've wiped the phone.

set it up as a new device.
Logged in with my google account and "Android OS" has consumed nearly 300 MB of data already.

Has to be something bizarre going on with my account, even though all syncing has been turned off.

I give up. Been on Android a few years but this is enough to make me go back to iOS.

Edit - deleted my google account from the device and the data consumption continues.

irishpancake

mass_debater wrote: »

Yes I did, do a factory reset and don't restore apps

It was suggested, among other things....

you may just have missed it, just above your OP.

No problemo.

mass_debater

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Edit - deleted my google account from the device and the data consumption continues.

Didn't think that was possible, once you've added a default Google account you shouldn't be able to remove it, only replace it by adding another

yllw.ldbttr

mass_debater wrote: »

Didn't think that was possible, once you've added a default Google account you shouldn't be able to remove it, only replace it by adding another

Could be OS Specific, I'm on a Oneplus One. It did warn me that a valid active account was needed for backup once I'd deleted the main one.

A few hours work down the track of wiping it and setting it up again and I'm no better off... I'm well and truly stumped.

mass_debater

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Could be OS Specific, I'm on a Oneplus One. It did warn me that a valid active account was needed for backup once I'd deleted the main one.

A few hours work down the track of wiping it and setting it up again and I'm no better off... I'm well and truly stumped.

I'd unlock the bootloader and flash Exodus on it, it's not much different to Cyanogen but a better ROM

yllw.ldbttr

mass_debater wrote: »

I'd unlock the bootloader and flash Exodus on it, it's not much different to Cyanogen but a better ROM

Possibly a lot of work to end up with the same problem (i had it on my S5 as well)?
Also, potential to brick the device puts me off it.

mass_debater

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Possibly a lot of work to end up with the same problem (i had it on my S5 as well)?
Also, potential to brick the device puts me off it.

No risk of bricking, it's the same method they recommend to flash the official Oxygen ROM.

Unlock bootloader:
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/guide-oneplus-one-how-to-unlock-bootloader-install-custom-recovery-and-root.64487/

Flash Exodus ROM
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/rom-5-1-1-r8-official-ota-exodus-android-lollipop.278548/

Keith186

I've been reading this from the start and it's bizzare! My phone has only used about 700mb so only a hundredth of your amount!

Seems weird that it's on two phones. Have you anything set up on a home computer that connected to the same WiFi network that could be doing something funny with android devices somehow?

It's too much of a coincidence for it to still be happening after your reset has me wondering is it an issue with your WiFi maybe... Not sure if its even possible.

yllw.ldbttr

Keith186 wrote: »

I've been reading this from the start and it's bizzare! My phone has only used about 700mb so only a hundredth of your amount!

Seems weird that it's on two phones. Have you anything set up on a home computer that connected to the same WiFi network that could be doing something funny with android devices somehow?

It's too much of a coincidence for it to still be happening after your reset has me wondering is it an issue with your WiFi maybe... Not sure if its even possible.

I'm laughing as my phone has used 700 mb since I wiped it an hour ago.
I'm getting fibre put in next week... This thing could hit a terabyte next month....


The coincidence has to relate to my Google account. That's the only thing in common between the two devices.
I wonder what are the chances of getting someone in support at Google to check my account... Probably nil.

Keith186

Are you streaming YouTube or Netflix or any video apps to a TV box or any stuff like that? Seeing as it's only at home when you could have stuff streaming for hours?
Would your Google account even have 70gb of data to be 'backing up'?

yllw.ldbttr

Keith186 wrote: »

Are you streaming YouTube or Netflix or any video apps to a TV box or any stuff like that? Seeing as it's only at home when you could have stuff streaming for hours?
Would your Google account even have 70gb of data to be 'backing up'?

No, no Netflix, minimal YouTube.
Standard Google account is around 15 GB I think so the numbers don't add up.

corsav6

Can you put your phone in flight mode and turn WiFi on and then leave it overnight? Since you have ruled out your google account and it happened on your other phone then the last thing is to rule out your network.

irishpancake

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Ok, i've wiped the phone.

set it up as a new device.
Logged in with my google account and "Android OS" has consumed nearly 300 MB of data already.

Has to be something bizarre going on with my account, even though all syncing has been turned off.

I give up. Been on Android a few years but this is enough to make me go back to iOS.

Edit - deleted my google account from the device and the data consumption continues.

Had you set it up to backup and restore?

If so, that may explain the high data usage initially, restoring your data and apps.

I can't remember, are you asked if you want to restore during the Google Account set-up phase?

See stuff here about removing existing Google Account without Factory Reset....

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1197941-how-to-remove-google-account-without-factory-reset/

It requires 2-step verification....??

biketard

Weird problem, OP. I feel for you. I actually had a similar issue with my current phone, but over my data connection, which was especially worrying since I would get charged heavily if I went over 500MB a month (I was getting close to that within a day).

I tried everything. Nothing worked.

Finally I not only reset the phone, but also wiped the SD card on the off-chance that there was some file on there that was affecting the phone in some way (I really don't know how there could be, but I did it anyway as I was getting desperate).

Anyway, it sorted out the problem.

My own theory is that there was in incomplete download on there in some temp folder or other that the phone kept trying and failing to complete (despite the fact that I manually made sure I had the latest OS updates), but who the feck knows.

Anyway, just want to let you know I know how frustrating this is. I hope you can find a solution.

yllw.ldbttr

corsav6 wrote: »

Can you put your phone in flight mode and turn WiFi on and then leave it overnight? Since you have ruled out your google account and it happened on your other phone then the last thing is to rule out your network.

I think I've ruled in the Google account as the culprit, rather than out?

Skill Magill

Tried a different google account on it, that would rule out it being a profile issue.

petrolcan

Long shot. Do you use Chrome browser? If so, uninstall it to see if that makes a difference. A few years back Chrome ate all my mobile data in the space of a morning.

yllw.ldbttr

Wiped again, attempting to root now..


i am gone so far down the rabbit hole at this stage I may quit, rooting not going as planned either.

sigh...


can't get phone to boot into twrp

yllw.ldbttr

ok, phone is rooted, going to leave it again a few hours and see what I can do this evening.

Wireshark seems to be the way to go but I'm not sure what variables I should be using in the shark for android interface to capture traffic... even then, if this is a google sync issue (most likely) then wouldn't all the traffic be encrypted?


"Packet capture" app purports to capture encrypted traffic using a MITM attack but I'd be very cautious of installing a dubious certificate to enable that, especially when I use the phone for banking etc.

Any advice folks? And thanks again for the help thus far.

Fluffy88

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

ok, phone is rooted, going to leave it again a few hours and see what I can do this evening.

Wireshark seems to be the way to go but I'm not sure what variables I should be using in the shark for android interface to capture traffic... even then, if this is a google sync issue (most likely) then wouldn't all the traffic be encrypted?


"Packet capture" app purports to capture encrypted traffic using a MITM attack but I'd be very cautious of installing a dubious certificate to enable that, especially when I use the phone for banking etc.

Any advice folks? And thanks again for the help thus far.

I've never really been able to get Wireshark to capture data from other devices on my network. I use Fiddler2 quite often to see what HTTP requests are coming out of my phone. Fiddler isn't nearly as powerful as Wireshark, but it has the benefit of being much simpler and designed for capturing only HTTP requests.

You can setup a proxy so that your phone routes all traffic through Fiddler running on your PC. You will need to install an unsigned cert for Fiddler to decrypt HTTPS, but the cert is generated on your PC so you know you can trust it.

If Fiddler or Wireshark don't work, take a look in your router to see does it support traffic capture.

yllw.ldbttr

Wiped.
Rooted.
Started from scratch and even with a temporary google account I was flaking through the data.

Put my apps and account back on it, all backups turned off, all syncing turned off, wiped my google photos account of every single video and image, wiped all internal storage on the phone.
Disabled google+, google drive, google photos apps.
Installed My Data Manager again so that I can see an hourly update of consumption on wifi.

Approx usage is 250 - 300 MB per hour when the phone is in use, same when it's idle.

This is killing my battery life and destroying wifi bandwidth for every other device in the house.

Interestingly I have a Nexus 7 with stock android, same google account, all syncing turned on and it's used approx 10 MB of data over the past month.

I am Jack's utter confusion.

GBX

Do you have Telegram Messenger installed? I read it shows as OS services even though the data is funnelled through the app?