Google+ Using Huge Background Data

[baileycmatt]

So yesterday Google+ went insane and used over 550mb of data over the course of a couple hours. I've seen this issue posted in the past, but not in the last year or so, and I assumed Google had fixed it - but apparently not. The most surprising thing is that it occurred in the middle of the night, when I was asleep and my phone was connected to wifi. I have the wifi set to never sleep, but it still loaded the data over the mobile network.

It's annoying to use up a significant portion of my data allowance on that, and the most frustrating thing is that there's no way to tell it's happening unless you happen to check the Data Usage or Storage settings (because G+ was just caching stuff and its app cache had grown over 500mb).

I hate to leave the app disabled because I like it. I know I can turn off background data, but that defeats some of the purpose, and I'm not 100% confident it'll work (and I can't micromanage Data Usage 24/7). Any ideas or experience? Nexus 4 stock 4.4.2 with custom recovery (TWRP) and LTE .33/84 hybrid radio.


PS Check out these awesome line from my T-Mo account usage statement (I was asleep at 5:15, connected to wifi, and in the shower at 7:17, also on wifi). Data Usage confirms it was G+ doing this.

12/17/2013, 07:17 AM Internet Access 286.8574 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:55 PM Internet Access 0.0830 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:54 PM Internet Access 0.0605 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:53 PM Internet Access 0.0136 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:16 AM Internet Access 333.7363 MB ---

 

[Michael Vieux]

Check the settings, it sounds like you may have the Photo backup on. It will back up all the photos on your phone in the background.

 

[baileycmatt]

Yeah, I have auto backup turned on, I've used it since it was introduced. But it's set to sync over wifi only, I only have 30 or so pictures on the phone (which are all already backed up), it shouldn't have filled up the G+ app cache, and there's no reason it would have kicked off at 5am - so I don't think that's it.

 

[srkmagnus]

I would double check to make sure you do in fact have it set to sync while on WiFi only. There really shouldn't be anything else consuming that much data (that I can think of) related to Google Plus.

 

[baileycmatt]

Yeah, I've checked many times. It's always worked fine before (I get the notification of photos being uploaded when I connect to wifi). I think it just decided to load all the messages in my feed, plus the attendant pictures, which explains the 500mb cache. I don't have anywhere close to 500mb of photos on my phone.

 

[anon(285475)]

I had this happen too and am pretty sure the culprit is auto-awesome movies. Video backup in general will use a lot more data and if you've been playing with the movie creator that will use more. But auto-awesome movies created them automatically. Pretty sure you have to turn it off on the desktop and can't be done through the app

 

[Ken Chin]

On New Year's Eve, Google plus PLOWED through about 3GB of mobile data usage throughout the night. I was getting alerts from Verizon that I was gobbling up data, but I didn't know what the culprit was. So, I just restarted my phone and paid $20 to add 2 more GB. Once I got home (I was driving for UBER that night), I checked the settings and saw that the mobile data consumption that night alone was eaten up by about 3GB via Google+. So, I checked my settings, and they were all set to only sync/backup over wifi, so I had NO idea why it consumed so much data in such little time! I saw that I could turn off/restrict background data and, once I did that, the usage slowed down. The next hurdle is trying to convince Verizon to give me a couple extra gigs of data for free. Btw, I'm using a Moto X on Verizon.

 

[xchange]

Do you have Google + set to auto backup photos and videos over mobile data?

 

[baileycmatt]

Do you have Google + set to auto backup photos and videos over mobile data?

As both Ken and I noted, we do NOT have the app set to sync over mobile data. That is not the issue here.

 

[xchange]

As both Ken and I noted, we do NOT have the app set to sync over mobile data. That is not the issue here.

There's 2 ways in settings to sync it. There's the option to sync Google+ itself which basically refers to posts and notifications but there's also another option to sync photos and videos using Google +, and you have both of them off?

Also there's yet another setting to auto backup photos and videos to Google+

 

[LegalAmerican]

Just to dig up an old thread here,

I am on a Nexus 5 and having this same problem. And for the love, the setting to sync over mobile data is OFF. I wish I could underline that a thousand times so no one else asks it. I've quadruple checked it in every app setting I can imagine to do so (Google+, Photos, Gallery, etc..). Mine wasn't as bad as mentioned above, but it did use over 500mb of data this past month, and I had everything set to wi-fi only. And I mean I use Google+ a little for my feed, but I use Twitter (Carbon) a lot more and it used a fraction of the data. No idea what the heck is going on, because it's also often listed on my battery usage pretty high. Like one or two below display as the highest usage.

 

[JacquesL]

So yesterday Google+ went insane and used over 550mb of data over the course of a couple hours. I've seen this issue posted in the past, but not in the last year or so, and I assumed Google had fixed it - but apparently not. The most surprising thing is that it occurred in the middle of the night, when I was asleep and my phone was connected to wifi. I have the wifi set to never sleep, but it still loaded the data over the mobile network.

It's annoying to use up a significant portion of my data allowance on that, and the most frustrating thing is that there's no way to tell it's happening unless you happen to check the Data Usage or Storage settings (because G+ was just caching stuff and its app cache had grown over 500mb).

I hate to leave the app disabled because I like it. I know I can turn off background data, but that defeats some of the purpose, and I'm not 100% confident it'll work (and I can't micromanage Data Usage 24/7). Any ideas or experience? Nexus 4 stock 4.4.2 with custom recovery (TWRP) and LTE .33/84 hybrid radio.


PS Check out these awesome line from my T-Mo account usage statement (I was asleep at 5:15, connected to wifi, and in the shower at 7:17, also on wifi). Data Usage confirms it was G+ doing this.

12/17/2013, 07:17 AM Internet Access 286.8574 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:55 PM Internet Access 0.0830 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:54 PM Internet Access 0.0605 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:53 PM Internet Access 0.0136 MB ---
12/17/2013, 05:16 AM Internet Access 333.7363 MB ---

I have the same problem with Nexus 4 ver.4.4.2. For the last 10 months, my average data usage is around 250 MB. Last night, G+ used 2.25 GB in background mode, in spite of the fact that my setting are set to do this only over Wi-Fi. I chexked my photo account on G+ and only one small picture has been uploaded in the last 24 hours.

Of interest:
Wi-Fi happend to be in the OFF mode on my phone (unintentionally). Could this have triggered a backup over mobile>
Restrict background data was not checked (I now have it checked)

 

[Alex Gtz]

It just happened to me today, 1.2GB of background data.... and I just had to disable background data for now, has any one got a solution for this?

 

[ffemt300]

It happened to me overnight. over 6 gigs used.....

 

[baileycmatt]

It happened to me overnight. over 6 gigs used.....

The app reviews on Google Play are full of this too. I've had the app disabled for two months now because of this, which is a shame because I liked it otherwise.

 

[Alex Wittig]

I had this happen too and am pretty sure the culprit is auto-awesome movies. Video backup in general will use a lot more data and if you've been playing with the movie creator that will use more. But auto-awesome movies created them automatically. Pretty sure you have to turn it off on the desktop and can't be done through the app

I also am fairly sure that Auto Awesome movies are to blame. The spike in data usage shows up at the same time I get a notification of a new Auto Awesome movie.

 

[WadeNews]

I just discovered my huge chunk of background data usage today as well...2Gigs....and yes I'm sync wifi only.....It makes me angry, since I'm using a Nexus 5 with straight talk for service....Any solutions?

 

[Luke Hallard]

Likewise. Stock Nexus 4 with 4.4.2 (build KOT49H). While travelling overseas last week Google+ ran up a ?575 phone bill with a flurry of early hours background data, despite all settings indicating Wifi-only, and background data limited. Have Google chimed in on this topic yet?

 

[Luke Hallard]

I've raised a query on this issue at the g+ community, could I get a few +1s and comments from people experiencing the same issue so we can drive attention to this potential bug.

https://plus.google.com/100300449900696834697/posts/Mgxzc9Ew6Sg

 

[Family van Niekerk]

I have a Samsung S3...Also had a very nasty G+ experience - run up 7.5GB in one day in background data! My phone got disconnected by my service provider because of the cost overrun against by credit level and I had to pay a fortune to get re-connected.

Solution. Go into G+, on the top left is the menu table, find and select photo - then switch the auto-backup the hell off!

Google should default setting it off.