Google+ app using EXCESSIVE background data

[SpookDroid]

Hi guys,

Has anyone else been experiencing an excessive use of background data on mobile from the Google+ app? It's probably the app I use the least and it's the highest data consumer in my phone! It's gobbled up 348MB from the 21-24. A few friends told me they got an SMS from their providers telling them they were over their puny data allowance and when they went to find out why, they saw Google+ being the culprit. I immediately checked mine and we all seem to have the same issue since the 21st.

Anyone else with this issue?

 

[nlitenme]

Do you have the instant upload feature activated for pics?

 

[SpookDroid]

Nope...up until now only notifications were on. I've always disabled gallery sync

 

[whitenack]

I have noticed this too. I have photo upload feature turned to wifi only. Not sure what the deal could be, because I don't use G+ for much of anything. Looking back through the past few months, G+ has been using a lot of data for a while. I checked the box to restrict the background data, so hopefully that will take care of it. I'm not sure what it could be doing in the background...surely nothing I would miss.

ETA:: Just read on the G+ help forums that a possible fix is to uninstall and reinstall. Google Groups

 

[cpolism]

Hopefully i can bring this thread back to life. I have a GS3 and my data just blew up!!! Got the warning for data usage a while ago figuring it was my wife constantly listening to Pandora at work. Come to find out it was me! I so went into my phone and checked data usage and sure enough, there was Google+ out in front. "Foreground 11.90MB, Background 2.20GB"!!!!!!!!! How does that even happen. I rarely even use this. I'm actually shocked right now. On the phone with AT&T to figure this out. Anyone else have any luck?

 

[whitenack]

I never found a solution, but I gave up on finding a solution (since I never use the app anyway). I just diabled background data for that app and now I don't have a problem with it.

 

[SpookDroid]

OK, so my solution was to update the app... that did it! As to WHY it suddenly fails, I still don't know, but here's what I'd suggest:
1) Make sure there are no werid auto-upload options turned on (Instant Upload); this, along with the new, higher resolution pictures Google+ allows, can eat up your quota REALLY fast.
2) If there are no upload options active, find the app in Application Manager/All Apps and Clear Cache.
3) If it's still abusing data, try the same as step 2, but this time Clear Data. Unfortunately, this makes you lose all info in the app and will force you to re-apply any special settings you might have had.
4) If all else fails, try uninstalling, restarting, re-install.

 

[MrBurtman2014]

There was an update to Google Plus dated 13th December 2013. Since then (it auto-updated) I noticed the exact same issue (only after receiving a text from my data provider telling me I had used 80% of my allowance - AFTER 6 DAYS!!)
G+ had used 1.2Gb of background data!! I have never used auto-upload on anything (except Dropbox) so I knew it wasn't that. I set the option to 'restrict background data' whilst I investigated. Unfortunately this meant I no longer get any notifications etc unless I open the app.

Checking the historical data usage of G+, I noticed that since shortly after the update was installed, the data usage steady climbed & climbed.

I uninstalled the latest update (didn't & cannot uninstall G+ completely; I like it & use it quite often) and since then, the previous version has used 3Mb(!!) of background data over three days (background data was automatically resumed when the update was removed) - big, big difference!

I shall not be updating G+ until this has 1) been accepted as an issue by Google and 2) been addressed going forward.
I suggest you all do the same - and complain to Google!
I'm not happy - I had to fork out extra money for extra data allowances that I really didn't/shouldn't need!

 

[SpookDroid]

Yeah, it seems to be hitting users randomly (Whomever says that Android fragmentation is a thing of the past can come and kiss my tushkin repeatedly ??') So, for some, it helps to re-update if a new version is available. For others, it helps to uninstall the update, clear cache, reboot, and re-update.

 

[dorob002]

I just got slammed by this. Looks like things started going very wrong around January 3rd, and since then the foreground use is 32 MB, and the background is 437 MB. I, of course, have the auto-backup set to WiFi only.

What is this??!!