Stop apps busting your data limit
What you need: Android phone or tablet Time required: 20 minutes
Most Android apps run in the background even when you’re not using them, which can drain your mobile data. While some background apps, like Gmail and Whatsapp, need to do this to alert you of new emails and
messages, most apps do not. Glasswire is a great free app that identifies these data-draining culprits and lets you stop them running. It also has a useful feature that will ensure you stay within your mobile data limit.
STEP 1
Install the app ( www.snipca.com/24431) and open it on your Android phone or tablet. When it first opens, tap Go To Settings. Here, tap Glasswire, then the ‘Allow usage access’ slider to turn it on 1 . Now tap the back button 2 twice to return to the app, tap Next, then tap Allow. Glasswire will now start monitoring how much data your background apps use. Now use your phone as you normally would for a few days.
STEP 2
When you next open Glasswire, you’ll see your app-data usage as a graph on a timeline. Set the time dropdown menu 1 to approximately how long you’ve been monitoring your usage (there are seven options from ‘5 minutes’ to ‘90 days’). Now, tap the dropdown menu on the right and set it to Mobile 2 to see which apps consume your mobile data (other options include Wi-fi and ‘Mobile and Wi-fi’). On the graph, tap any numbered orange circle 3 to see which apps used your data during that time period. The green New icons 4 represent apps that have used data for the first time since you installed Glasswire. The largest data hogs 5 appear in a list below. Tap any app in this list to see more information about it.
STEP3
On this screen, you can change the time dropdown menu 1 if you want to monitor the app over a longer or shorter time period. The graph shows when that app consumed the most data 2 and how much 3 – if it uses a lot you can limit the background data it uses (see Step 4). Below that, you’ll see a list of permissions the app has 4 . In our example, music app Spotify doesn’t need access to our contacts, phone, camera and microphone to work, so to revoke access to these, tap the Permissions section.
STEP4
This takes you to the ‘App info’ section 1 for that app 2 . You can uninstall it 3 if you don’t use it. If you want to keep it but noticed it’s consuming a lot of data in see Step 3, tap ‘Data usage’ 4 and turn off the ‘Background data’ slider. Keep this on for email and messaging apps, but you can safely turn it off for notetaking, news, music and photo-editing apps. Now go back and tap Permissions 5 . Here, you can turn off the sliders beside Contacts, Storage, Telephone and ‘Your location’ if you think the app doesn’t need this info.
STEP5
Glasswire also lets you set notifications to ensure you don’t exceed your mobile-data plan. To do this, tap the three lines at the top left of the home screen, Data Plan, then Set Data Plans. Here, you can input your monthly mobiledata limit in MB or GB 1 . Select from Recurring or ‘Pre-paid’ plan 2 , choose your billing cycle (Monthly, Weekly or Daily) 3 , then select the start date of your billing cycle 4 (contact your service provider if you don’t know this). At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see how much data you’ve consumed in your current cycle. Tap Done 5 to confirm these settings.
STEP6
Go back one screen, then switch on the sliders next to Plan Limit Reached 1 and ‘90% of Plan Limit Reached’ 2 . Similarly, you can create daily or weekly notifications to ensure you’re staying within your data limit on a regular basis. To do this, tap the +New button 3 , then set the data limits and time periods using the options (as in Step 5). You’ll now see notifications whenever you’re approaching and then reach your set limits. This section also displays how much data you’ve used in the current cycle 4 .
STEP7
By default, Glasswire notifies you whenever any app accesses your mobile data for the first time. If you find this annoying, you can turn it off. Tap the three lines at the top left, Settings, then Alerts 1 . Here, turn off the Alert and Notification sliders. Because Glasswire continuously monitors your app-data usage your battery may drain faster. If you notice this, go back, tap Update Interval 2 , then change it from the default ‘1 sec’ to a longer duration – options include 1,3, 5, 10, 15 and 30 seconds. Glasswire recommends 1-5 seconds for new devices, longer for older ones. ●