[Q] Google Services - huge data usage

Bump.

This has started happening to me too. I'm running cm10.1 20130706 nightly. I've seen this happening to people using the nexus 4 and other custom ROMs.

Has this issue been fixed yet in a newer nightly?

same here

having the same problem.
It uses up all my mobile data. 500MB.
I am running liquidsmooth in Nexus 4.

I love android. But This is really pushing me to iPhone.

same thing for me with aokp ... as a workaround i restricted "google services" in mobile-networks. But this has of course downsides.

Isn´t there anything to prevent the download from happening again and again ?

Same here Google services has used 0.9GB in 2 days. Same as the OP I was informed by my supplier. Bit worrying and is there a fix?

Guys I am facing such extremely annoying Google Services (DownloadManager in BBS) battery drain + mobile/wifi data usage issue and I have been searching for some hours.

First of all I have tried the most answered solution - clearing the data of all those stuffs related to Google Services - well it did not work so well.

Then I don't think freezing download manager / factory reset / restrict background data / disabling google services framework are good solutions as I myself did not make changes related to this recently so a factory reset should not be needed, plus the other mentioned solutions would cause syncing issues with Google and this doesn't suit my lifestyle of heavily depending on various google services.

Many of you have proposed that the massive download / repeated downloads are related to downloading the 4.3 OTA and that might be possible according to the similar file sizes as well as logcats you have found. But on the other hand one of the solution - disabling Network Locations settings has also stopped the "download" triangle from constantly staying there when my wifi is on. Therefore we can conclude that it is partially related to the 4.3 OTA download which cannot be disabled on our custom ROMs, as well as partially about the stock Network Location settings.

Fortunately after many posts that do not provide a feasible answer I have found this xda post which addresses the issue related to the Google Play Store 4.1.6. Some of the users have reported that 4.1.10 has fixed the issue and some even said the newest version 4.2.9 is over the internet since 25/7 together with 4.3 update.

Not sure why such critical update did not roll out to the unluckily bunch of us from Google, but I have found the Android Police source about 4.1.10 fixing the "Network Location bug which hogs the battery" and hopefully this will stop the DownloadManager wakelock as well as the crazy battery drain + data drain by Google Services.

I haven't tested this thoroughly because I will probably need a day to check out whether it stops the crazy behaviour but I would just like to share with you guys my founding as soon as possible so you guys can try it out together with me. The latest Google Play Store 4.2.9 apk can be downloaded from Android Police here.

Hope I have helped! Good luck to you and me!

will give that a try .. however i have my doubts that new play store will prevent the phone from downloading OTA.
And actually I wonder why our fantastic Custom-ROMs have not disabled this (OTA-check etc..).

I have had the same exact problem yesterday, I am on a pre paid plan and the stupid thing used all my credit by downloading 112mb (I'm sure it would use more the instant I add credit) but it does nothing on wifi. If it is indeed an OTA issue with 4.3 the only fix maybe to flash android 4.3 to stop the OTA from downloading said 4.3? Just a thought. I will try it now as I have free time and will let you guys know if it works. It really is a stupid problem to have.

I am on Slim ROM, I thought the OTA service was not included in most of the custom ROM's so it won't look for an update, how come it is doing it anyway?

I have the same problem, over 1.5gigs downloaded in 2 days.
Used up all my mobile data and uses my wireless at home!

btw I'm using Nexus 4

Well this is new, Download Manager just started using my Wifi used about 50mb (it would be more but I only noticed the wifi being used and installed the app) so maybe around 80mb. I've attached 2 images, if anyone can figure out what's going on or get in contact with google somehow and let them know what's going on. I don't want to add anymore credit to my account because I fear it will just be wasting money.

I'm going to flash 4.3 now and see what happens. Will update asap cause this is ridiculous.

UPDATE: Flashed 4.3 and got rid of all the google bloat (maps, earth, hangouts etc) cleared cache and dalvik cache in recovery. Sent $10 credit to my phone and so far all is well, Google services only used 14kb so far (this is on mobile data) I will continue to use mobile data for the rest of the day and weekend to see what happens. So far it works:

So flash 4.3 and it seems the update is no longer pushing or pulling from the servers.

UPDATE 2: About 5 hours in and Google services are not going crazy as before. It really could be an OTA update issue, I should have tried the play store update mentioned by Miasmic but I was so frustrated I just flashed. If someone can try and confirm Miasmic's method we could all save other people from this trouble.

This still sucks and google owes me $20 US, how an update was being pulled from Slim ROM I have no clue.

So in conclusion flashing/updating to android 4.3 cured my problem. Hope it helps someone else who has these troubles, or at least you can cut your data being used up before you reach a cap or lose all your credit like me.

amd-dude said:

Well this is new, Download Manager just started using my Wifi used about 50mb (it would be more but I only noticed the wifi being used and installed the app) so maybe around 80mb. I've attached 2 images, if anyone can figure out what's going on or get in contact with google somehow and let them know what's going on. I don't want to add anymore credit to my account because I fear it will just be wasting money.

I'm going to flash 4.3 now and see what happens. Will update asap cause this is ridiculous.

UPDATE: Flashed 4.3 and got rid of all the google bloat (maps, earth, hangouts etc) cleared cache and dalvik cache in recovery. Sent $10 credit to my phone and so far all is well, Google services only used 14kb so far (this is on mobile data) I will continue to use mobile data for the rest of the day and weekend to see what happens. So far it works:

So flash 4.3 and it seems the update is no longer pushing or pulling from the servers.

UPDATE 2: About 5 hours in and Google services are not going crazy as before. It really could be an OTA update issue, I should have tried the play store update mentioned by Miasmic but I was so frustrated I just flashed. If someone can try and confirm Miasmic's method we could all save other people from this trouble.

This still sucks and google owes me $20 US, how an update was being pulled from Slim ROM I have no clue.

So in conclusion flashing/updating to android 4.3 cured my problem. Hope it helps someone else who has these troubles, or at least you can cut your data being used up before you reach a cap or lose all your credit like me.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks for the constant updates! I myself have confirmed that updating the play store does not work. Finally I copied the old good FOTAkill.apk from gingerbread times to /system/apps and it stopped all the google services data hogs. However seems like my Hangouts app is not receiving messages since then.

I am also planning to upgrade to 4.3 as soon as I got the time. Sigh Google, what a cool way to **** up all of us custom roms users.

Here's how to disable the OTA download on any ROM

Install Autorun Manager from the Play store.
Then enter its recommended advanced mode.
Go into the settings and enable the following: system entries and system app disable.
Disable com.android.gsf.update.SystemUpdateService$Recieve r under Google Service Framework

It would be great if the OP could be updated with this

@joshuab227,

I did this but... Can it be that this fix also disables app updating in the play store?
A bunch of free apps was updated, but the play store didn't showed them as.
I couldn't update my apps to new versions via the official/original play store.

Send from my Nexus 4

DecypherT said:

@joshuab227,

I did this but... Can it be that this fix also disables app updating in the play store?
A bunch of free apps was updated, but the play store didn't showed them as.
I couldn't update my apps to new versions via the official/original play store.

Send from my Nexus 4

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I don't think it disables play store updates.
I still have pending updates showing in my play store for a few apps I have chosen not to update (maps and talk) after disabling the system update service

EDIT : Just double checked if play store is still updating correctly by uninstalling my Skype and restoring an older version from titanium backup.

The update for Skype showed up immediately when I viewed my apps in the play store.


Sent from my Nexus 4

What does the "fotakill" app actually?

Send from my Nexus 4

i have had someone i know suffer this, chewed 2gb in 3 days. He cant work out what it is

Hi, just wanted to check in and confirm that I do have the same issue. I'm on AOKP 4.2.2, maybe it is an AOKP issue, that they didn't disable the OTA functionality completely?

I remember when 4.2.x or even 4.1 was rolling out, I had the same issue, also on AOKP rom.
I had to switch to stock 4.2/4.1 until AOKP released their update.

It's really annoying though.. I'll raise a bug for AOKP.

So only solutions is disabeling the receiver or installign FOTAkill.apk?
What does FOTAkill.apk disable? only the OTA or also other Google Services?