• Mobile data on

    From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 09:27:51 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while;
    maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Ed
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?J=C3=B6rg_Lorenz?=@hugybear@gmx.net to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 11:00:22 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On 19.11.24 10:27, Ed Cryer wrote:
    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Each and every restart does it.
    --
    "De gustibus non est disputandum."
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 12:54:14 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Jörg Lorenz wrote:
    On 19.11.24 10:27, Ed Cryer wrote:
    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while;
    maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still
    happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Each and every restart does it.


    No it doesn't; at least not on my phone.

    Ed
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Andrews@andrews@nospam.net to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 21:31:02 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer wrote on Tue, 19 Nov 2024 12:54:14 +0000 :

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while;
    maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still
    happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Each and every restart does it.


    No it doesn't; at least not on my phone.

    It always amazes me that people respond to the gibberish of the Joerg troll (where Joerg Lorenze doesn't own a helpful bone in his entire body).

    Anyway, ignoring the Joerg Lorenze troll... Andy Burns told me about
    NetGuard long ago, which, if you do determine the app that's causing the problem, you can turn off mobile data specifically to it (you have control
    over every single app with NetGuard).

    Now your question though is how to determine which app it is.

    Every app lists in the settings (on my Samsung anyway) how much mobile data
    it used. Let me look for you with, oh, let's say "NewPipe...
    a. I go to Settings
    b. I go to Apps
    c. I search for NewPipe
    d. I scroll down and it tells me I used 3.81GB of mobile data since Aug 1.

    Actually I don't do it that way because I use the Muntashirakon App
    Manager, but you probably would do it that way - so I checked for you that
    way so that you could follow in my footsteps.

    Of course it's a PITA to have to look at every app that way, but since the
    data exists, there is likely an app that rolls it all up for you somewhere.

    Next I went back to the general settings (Android 13) and searched for
    "mobile data" and it came up with "Mobile Data Usage" which showed last
    "month" I used 2.44GB of mobile data (where a "month" to Android is
    whatever you set it to be and where mine is set at the 1st of each month).

    When I click on "Mobile Data Usage" within that activity, it shows me a
    graph and then it sorts all my apps by the amount of mobile data they used.

    That's what I think you need to do as the top app in that list uses the
    most mobile data & the bottom app in that list uses the least mobile data.

    Good luck. Let us know how it worked out as my suggestion is:
    a. Follow the steps above to locate the offending app
    b. Limit what that app can do with mobile data

    Note: There's probably a third-party app for all this but I didn't look.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From VanguardLH@V@nguard.LH to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 15:37:55 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a
    while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But
    it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    What options are available likely depends on brand of phone, and maybe
    even the model within a brand. For example, with Samsung (maybe not all
    of them), go to Settings -> Connections -> Data Usage, and use the menu
    button. Select "Restrict Background" from the menu which stops automatic
    enable of data. Some phones reenable data when resuming out of sleep
    mode.

    Some folks say to disable automatic update of date and time: settings ->
    Date & Time, toggle "set automatically". Yet I thought cell phones got
    their time sync from cell towers which get their time sync from GPS
    satellites, not by the phone using data for an Internet connection to
    some NTP server.

    On my phone, under settings -> Network -> Wifi, menu, Advanced, there is
    a "Switch fo mobile data" option which I have enabled. When I leave
    home to lose the wifi connect to my cable modem, I still want my apps to connect online, like to Google Maps.

    There are malicious apps that will reenable data, like a viral VPN app
    that wants to connect to your phone from outside. Because apps often
    want data for Internet connections, and they can reenable data when
    they're active, you might want to go to Data Saver settings to see if
    Data Saver is enabled, and, if so, which, if any, apps are excluded.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 22:03:17 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Andrews wrote:
    Ed Cryer wrote on Tue, 19 Nov 2024 12:54:14 +0000 :

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; >>>> maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still >>>> happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Each and every restart does it.


    No it doesn't; at least not on my phone.

    It always amazes me that people respond to the gibberish of the Joerg troll (where Joerg Lorenze doesn't own a helpful bone in his entire body).

    Anyway, ignoring the Joerg Lorenze troll... Andy Burns told me about
    NetGuard long ago, which, if you do determine the app that's causing the problem, you can turn off mobile data specifically to it (you have control over every single app with NetGuard).

    Now your question though is how to determine which app it is.

    Every app lists in the settings (on my Samsung anyway) how much mobile data it used. Let me look for you with, oh, let's say "NewPipe...
    a. I go to Settings
    b. I go to Apps
    c. I search for NewPipe
    d. I scroll down and it tells me I used 3.81GB of mobile data since Aug 1.

    Actually I don't do it that way because I use the Muntashirakon App
    Manager, but you probably would do it that way - so I checked for you that way so that you could follow in my footsteps.

    Of course it's a PITA to have to look at every app that way, but since the data exists, there is likely an app that rolls it all up for you somewhere.

    Next I went back to the general settings (Android 13) and searched for "mobile data" and it came up with "Mobile Data Usage" which showed last "month" I used 2.44GB of mobile data (where a "month" to Android is
    whatever you set it to be and where mine is set at the 1st of each month).

    When I click on "Mobile Data Usage" within that activity, it shows me a
    graph and then it sorts all my apps by the amount of mobile data they used.

    That's what I think you need to do as the top app in that list uses the
    most mobile data & the bottom app in that list uses the least mobile data.

    Good luck. Let us know how it worked out as my suggestion is:
    a. Follow the steps above to locate the offending app
    b. Limit what that app can do with mobile data

    Note: There's probably a third-party app for all this but I didn't look.

    Hello Andrews.

    Your solution seems heavily dependent on third-party apps and specific software; Android 13, Newpipe, NetGuard.
    I don't have any of those.

    Ed

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 22:14:50 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    VanguardLH wrote:
    Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a
    while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But
    it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    What options are available likely depends on brand of phone, and maybe
    even the model within a brand. For example, with Samsung (maybe not all
    of them), go to Settings -> Connections -> Data Usage, and use the menu button. Select "Restrict Background" from the menu which stops automatic enable of data. Some phones reenable data when resuming out of sleep
    mode.

    Some folks say to disable automatic update of date and time: settings ->
    Date & Time, toggle "set automatically". Yet I thought cell phones got
    their time sync from cell towers which get their time sync from GPS satellites, not by the phone using data for an Internet connection to
    some NTP server.

    On my phone, under settings -> Network -> Wifi, menu, Advanced, there is
    a "Switch fo mobile data" option which I have enabled. When I leave
    home to lose the wifi connect to my cable modem, I still want my apps to connect online, like to Google Maps.

    There are malicious apps that will reenable data, like a viral VPN app
    that wants to connect to your phone from outside. Because apps often
    want data for Internet connections, and they can reenable data when
    they're active, you might want to go to Data Saver settings to see if
    Data Saver is enabled, and, if so, which, if any, apps are excluded.

    Hello, man.

    I've looked through all my apps, viewing Permisions for each one.
    The likeliest suspect is an app that surveys our local bus Network. It
    has one permission; Location.
    That seems very likely. Interpreted through the eyes of a predator, it
    could read as "switch on GPS when wifi is disabled".
    But I can't catch it in flagrante delicto. In fact, quite the opposite.
    I switch off wifi, load the app, and it just sits there blinking at me;
    while mobile data stays off.

    I hope you're well.

    Ed
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?J=C3=B6rg_Lorenz?=@hugybear@gmx.net to comp.mobile.android on Wed Nov 20 00:22:56 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On 19.11.24 10:27, Ed Cryer wrote:
    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?


    AFAIK there is no app that is able to turn on hardware without user
    consent. On Android there is always the message that requests to turn on missing hardware.
    --
    "Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From VanguardLH@V@nguard.LH to comp.mobile.android on Tue Nov 19 21:59:36 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:

    VanguardLH wrote:
    Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a
    while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But
    it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    What options are available likely depends on brand of phone, and maybe
    even the model within a brand. For example, with Samsung (maybe not all
    of them), go to Settings -> Connections -> Data Usage, and use the menu
    button. Select "Restrict Background" from the menu which stops automatic
    enable of data. Some phones reenable data when resuming out of sleep
    mode.

    Some folks say to disable automatic update of date and time: settings ->
    Date & Time, toggle "set automatically". Yet I thought cell phones got
    their time sync from cell towers which get their time sync from GPS
    satellites, not by the phone using data for an Internet connection to
    some NTP server.

    On my phone, under settings -> Network -> Wifi, menu, Advanced, there is
    a "Switch fo mobile data" option which I have enabled. When I leave
    home to lose the wifi connect to my cable modem, I still want my apps to
    connect online, like to Google Maps.

    There are malicious apps that will reenable data, like a viral VPN app
    that wants to connect to your phone from outside. Because apps often
    want data for Internet connections, and they can reenable data when
    they're active, you might want to go to Data Saver settings to see if
    Data Saver is enabled, and, if so, which, if any, apps are excluded.

    Hello, man.

    I've looked through all my apps, viewing Permisions for each one.
    The likeliest suspect is an app that surveys our local bus Network. It
    has one permission; Location.
    That seems very likely. Interpreted through the eyes of a predator, it
    could read as "switch on GPS when wifi is disabled".
    But I can't catch it in flagrante delicto. In fact, quite the opposite.
    I switch off wifi, load the app, and it just sits there blinking at me; while mobile data stays off.

    I hope you're well.

    Ed

    Another place to look is in settings -> Data Manager, and select Mobile
    to look at usage. For me, under there are a list of apps that want data access. I know there is one app that I set it to "restricted": it only
    gets wifi access, not data. It is a security web cam app that can
    generate tons of network traffic. When I had a limited data quota, that
    app sucked it all up in a short time. Videos consume a lot of quota.
    So, I configured that app to only allow it wifi access.

    I used to have the HERE WeGo app for maps which could download a LOT of
    map data. Although I only had it download offline maps for areas where
    I live, and where I may travel, those offline maps still consumed
    something like 20 GB (configured to store on the SD card). The
    downloads took a long time. I didn't want to consume data updating the
    offline maps. However, for that app, it had its own setting to restrict
    map downloads to wifi (not use data). I didn't have to go into Android settings to restrict the app to only wifi access which would not only
    apply to offline map updates, but using the map app while moving since
    wifi hotspot are limited in range, and there is no reconnect when
    leaving one wifi hotspot to moving into range of another wifi hotspot as
    there is with switching connections when travelling between cell tower.

    When going to those Data Manager mobile settings on apps, you can
    disable background data usage to restrict an app to only give it wifi
    access. Navigation to the similar function on whatever phone you have
    may differ from mine.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Andrews@andrews@nospam.net to comp.mobile.android on Wed Nov 20 05:38:18 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer wrote on Tue, 19 Nov 2024 22:03:17 +0000 :

    Your solution seems heavily dependent on third-party apps and specific software; Android 13, Newpipe, NetGuard.
    I don't have any of those.

    WTF?
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Dave Royal@dave@dave123royal.com to comp.mobile.android on Wed Nov 20 08:14:45 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> Wrote in message:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    Do you mean you find the switch in settings in the 'on' position
    after you've turned it off? Or that you find the mobile data
    counters have increased?

    Phone make? Android version?

    My understanding is that ordinary user-installed apps cannot turn
    on mobile data, but 'system' apps can. Malware probably
    could.
    --
    Remove numerics from my email address.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to comp.mobile.android on Wed Nov 20 11:27:06 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Jörg Lorenz wrote:
    On 19.11.24 10:27, Ed Cryer wrote:
    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while;
    maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still
    happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?


    AFAIK there is no app that is able to turn on hardware without user
    consent. On Android there is always the message that requests to turn on missing hardware.


    I suppose it's still possible that I'm switching it on accidentally.
    I'll keep monitoring; see what happens.

    Ed

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Arno Welzel@usenet@arnowelzel.de to comp.mobile.android on Thu Nov 21 22:08:30 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Ed Cryer, 2024-11-19 10:27:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    What Android version? What phone model?
    --
    Arno Welzel
    https://arnowelzel.de
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From david@this@is.invalid to comp.mobile.android on Thu Nov 21 16:23:38 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Using <news:vhhln3$1p43u$1@dont-email.me>, Ed Cryer wrote:

    Something is switching on mobile data. I thought it was me for a while; maybe a stray finger or thumb over the drop-down settings. But it still happens occasionally, even though I've been very careful.
    How can I find the app that's doing it?

    What is your Android phone brand model & OS version?
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114