If you’re trying to squeeze as much usage out of your mobile data plan as possible, you might want to closely track your data usage. Android has a built-in data tracker, but sometimes it’s not as useful as you might like. Perhaps you want to see a daily rundown of your data usage and what was using it rather than a general summary over a monthly period. If data usage tracking is big for you, here are some apps to make finding data-munchers much easier.
1. My Data Manager
When you start My Data Manager, you’re given the chance to set up your data plan so the app can track your usage better. Once installed, My Data Manager will keep track of all the data you use. It nicely separates it into Mobile and WiFi traffic, so your Netflix-watching back home doesn’t skew the data.
You can see how much data each app used that day on the main screen, or scroll through the Apps menu to see a day-by-day history of how each app is doing. There’s even a map feature that pinpoints where you were when you used your mobile data! My Data Manager also places a status bar in the notifications area so you can track usage as it happens, but this can be turned off if you find it annoying.
2. 3G Watchdog
Don’t be fooled by its name! 3G Watchdog does a lot more than track 3G connections. It can also track 4G and WiFi data usage. Featured within the app is a real-time graph to see how your data is being used by apps as it happens. You can set up a plan and let 3G Watchdog report on how far through your plan you are. It even puts a small icon in the notifications tray that lets you know how much data you’ve used so far.
3. GlassWire
GlassWire is a great solution if real-time tracking is important to you. By default, GlassWire will show a live graph depicting the data usage over the last minute. The “Alerts” section will warn you when an app initiates a data connection for the first time, so you can keep an eye on mischievous data eaters. GlassWire also adds information to the notification bar, detailing the data usage over that month as well as a very useful bandwidth monitor for real-time tracking.
4. Data Usage Monitor
Data Usage Monitor is a very basic app that’s best used for tracking how close you are to your usage limits. The graph on the main page shows you a rough trajectory of your current usage as well as an estimate on when you’ll reach your limit. The apps page brings up all the apps you’ve used when you hit the refresh button so you can see who the main offenders are. There’s a second app this developer has created that can monitor Internet speeds, making for a nice combination of apps.
5. Internet Speed Meter Lite
Internet Speed Meter Lite is the perfect choice for people who don’t want to be inundated with features. There are no graphs, charts, or even app-by-app data logs! What makes this app very useful, however, is the live bandwidth notification in the top left. This allows for real-time monitoring of how much data an app is using while you use it. You can also tell the app to stop tracking traffic and shut itself down, which is a surprisingly absent feature in many data usage monitors!
An Eye on Data
If you’re under a particularly strict data limit, you’ll want to know what apps are eating away at your quota, and now you know five great solutions for figuring out which app is causing you to break your data plan.
Do you struggle to keep your data under the limit? Do you have any app recommendations yourself? Let us know below!