how to find out where Internet traffic is spent on your phone

Many people who surf the Internet sometimes notice that, for unknown reasons, the connection speed drops sharply. In such a situation, it is important to determine where exactly the traffic is going. Sometimes you need to enable economy mode, which will help improve the quality of communication. Read more about what mobile traffic is on our website.

How to identify a program that wastes mobile traffic

Sometimes your Android phone's mobile data consumption suddenly increases sharply. Most often this is due to the installation of a new application or the next update of some program. It is important to quickly determine who is to blame for the increase in mobile traffic consumption and eliminate the cause. How to find the program responsible for overusing mobile Internet and curb its appetite - in this article.

Which programs consume the most traffic?

Communication via the Internet is important not only for the user, but also for some programs. working on a computer. Some of them are not present on the Internet at all, while others can take up a significant part of Internet traffic. One way to find out where the Internet is going is to see if the corresponding applications are active.

On the computer

One of the traffic consumers is applications during updates. Some of them gently remind you of themselves and ask you to agree to the update. Others themselves check for their availability and download the necessary code.

This problem occurs, for example, when running antivirus programs. To do their job well, they must stay up-to-date on existing virus threats online and use new data to detect and combat malware.

When working on a computer, the user uses a specific operating system. No matter. What it is, it is constantly being developed and updates are regularly transmitted through the World Wide Web. Sometimes receiving them loads the modem for tens of minutes.

Important! The user has the opportunity to refuse updates, but this is not recommended as this may reduce the quality and safety of the operating system.

If the browser is running, then when opening a large number of pages, Internet consumption increases sharply. If loading becomes slower, it is recommended to close several pages. Perhaps this will reduce the load on the Internet. Some browsers do not use traffic sparingly, while others treat it very carefully. Therefore, when choosing one used for this purpose, the presence of such a feature should be determined.

If there are clear signs of increased traffic consumption, you should check for the reasons mentioned here.

How to see mobile traffic consumption

In a modern Android smartphone, all applications, with rare exceptions, require an Internet connection. Therefore, you should not completely turn off the mobile Internet. But you can follow him. To do this, in Settings, find the Connections item.

Inside, select the Data Usage category.

In the Mobile group, find Data Usage.

A list of applications will be displayed on the screen, indicating the mobile data that was spent by each program during the period.

How not to overpay for mobile Internet

The Android system has a special settings section for determining the mobile Internet limit.

For example, with a paid package of 2 GB per month, you must set a warning for 1.8 GB. And after reaching 2 GB, allow the system to turn off the Internet outside Wi-Fi networks.

These simple tips will allow you to quickly identify the program that consumes mobile Internet more than usual and not overpay for additional megabyte packages to your mobile operator.

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Internet traffic consumption statistics on Android

Android has a built-in tool that shows detailed statistics on mobile Internet and Wi-Fi traffic consumption. To use this function, you need to open the gadget settings and go to the “Network and Internet” section. Here is the “Data Transfer” subsection, where there is a list of programs and the Internet traffic they use (for the selected period of time).

You can view detailed statistics about each application separately. To do this, you need to select a utility from the list, after which a separate window will open with information about the use of mobile data: traffic consumption in active and background mode for a certain period of time (you can choose for what time to show statistics - day, week, month).

How to check where Internet traffic goes for smartphones

People's needs do not always lead to high Internet costs. Sometimes the cause of problems is excessive data consumption by individual applications installed on the phone. In this case, parasitic programs operate in background mode and constantly send information.

This is more typical for smartphones that have Android. To identify such applications, you need to use standard programs installed on any phone. To do this you need to do the following:

Go to Android settings.
Find "Data transfer". After this, a window will open indicating the total costs of information during the day. Below are the costs in the context of specific applications. The programs that consume the most information are listed above.
To reduce the traffic consumption of a specific application, you need to click on it and turn off the transmission of information in the background. As a result, the program will stop sending data without the knowledge of the smartphone owner.
At the same time, traffic control often causes a number of difficulties. To detect harmful applications that waste the Internet, you need to know the norm for installed programs. For example, browsers or Youtube, of course, can consume quite a lot of information in a day, and this is quite normal.

At the same time, for applications that operate offline, costs of several hundred megabytes per day or more are completely abnormal.

Datally - traffic control from Google

Datally is a mobile application from Google that helps you track where your Internet traffic is spent. Using the program, you can set a limit on traffic use for a day, week and month. If the set limit is exceeded, the utility will send a notification.

You can view detailed statistics about how much traffic applications consume over a certain period of time. General information about mobile data consumption is displayed on the graph.

The Datally app has a feature that allows you to limit the time you use mobile Internet at night. The utility will automatically disable programs that consume Internet traffic - to do this, you need to specify the time when the software will be stopped.

On the computer

Typically, on a home computer or smartphone, the largest consumers of traffic are browsers. They can have a large number of pages open. If viewing media files is running at this time, then this is the reason for the active consumption of traffic.

A similar situation arises in cases where a company is provided with a general connection to the World Wide Web. Usually the speed slows down if one of the computers consumes particularly a lot of traffic. One way to check where the Internet speed is going in such cases is to check every computer on the network.

Important! One of the most dangerous reasons is infection with computer viruses. The specific features of the situation depend on its type. Some of them can leak data online. Others perform malicious activities on the Internet from an infected computer. One example in this case would be spamming.

Another way could be promotional videos. Despite the fact that they are usually short in length, they are nevertheless often found on website pages and together use a significant part of the traffic.

Checking using the operating system

To figure out which offers consume the maximum amount of traffic, you can use standard operating system tools. To do this in Windows 10 you need to do the following:

Click on the “Start” button located in the lower left corner of the screen.
In the menu that appears, select “Options”.
In the “Network and Internet” section, you need to pay attention to “Data Usage”.

Here you can find out how much traffic certain applications have used over the last 30 days.

Using console commands

To obtain the necessary information, you can call the system console. This must be done as an administrator.

Another way to see where the Internet is going involves performing the following actions:

Click on the “Start” button.
After this, a field for entering a command will open. You need to enter “cmd” without quotes and press Enter.
Now you need to enter the command “netstat -b” and confirm it. In this case, information will appear about which program is connected to the connections established on the computer.
If you use the "netstat -a" command, you can get detailed information about which application is using how much traffic.

Based on the information received, you can find out exactly where Internet traffic goes and which program is actively consuming the Internet at a certain moment.

How to find out traffic consumption data in Windows 7

In this operating system, you can use the keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+Del to open the Task Manager window.

Then do the following:

Go to the “Performance” tab.
You need to find “Resource Monitor”.
Next, select “Network”.

The screen that opens will show active Windows processes that are connected to the World Wide Web. After reviewing the presented data, you can study how much traffic each active process consumes.

My Data Manager

My Data Manager is a data tracker for Android mobile devices. The program makes it possible to control the use of Internet traffic. The utility monitors data from mobile Internet and Wi-Fi. There is also a separate section that takes into account statistics when using the Internet while roaming.

In the application, you can specify the current tariff plan - payment type and data limit. Thus, the My Data Manager utility will send notifications if the subscriber exceeds the traffic limit. The program has a “Journal” section, where you can view traffic usage statistics for today. The data is displayed on a graph, which shows the number of megabytes consumed and the time.

On iPhone or Android

The question of how the Internet is spent on MTS or other operators is especially important for smartphones, for which Internet payments are based on traffic accounting. In this case, it is important to use this resource rationally.

To determine how much paid traffic is left, the smartphone owner must perform the following steps:

Go to “Settings”.
Go to the section dedicated to working with a cellular operator.
View tariff usage statistics.

The iPhone screen will show data about the traffic consumption on the smartphone and how much of it is left for use.

Traffic counter (Traffic Monitor)

The Traffic Monitor app is a handy Android app that will help you determine which apps are consuming more traffic and which ones are consuming less. Data is taken into account when using mobile Internet and Wi-Fi. When you first launch the utility, you can set a limit on traffic use per month, week, 3 days or day. If you use unlimited Internet, you do not need to set a limit.

The “Total” section shows general traffic consumption statistics taking into account the established limits. The “App” section displays more detailed statistics: traffic consumption by applications.

Each program has a traffic counter. If you click on a program in the list? A new window will open with detailed information about the utility: statistics of outgoing and incoming traffic. Mobile data consumption can be sorted by time: today, yesterday, 3 days, week, month.

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Programs for accounting computer Internet traffic

Programs in this category are designed to monitor and count Internet traffic on the current computer. Most often, they are used if a tariff plan with a limited amount of network traffic is used; this allows you to deny access to the Network in a timely manner and avoid additional costs.

A simple program for counting traffic online. Using this utility, based on the processed data, you can generate a report for a standard period - day, week, month. In addition, you can set your own time period for analysis, as well as capture data for a specific account. The summarized information is available in the form of a graph; it is possible to export statistics to a report file in HTML, XLS and TXT formats.

Monitoring the volume of transmitted and received data is carried out online; it is possible to generate reports, including graphic ones.

The trial period for using NetLimiter is 25 days. The license price, as in the case of NetWorx, is about $30.

A tiny free utility for processing traffic in real-time mode. It allows you to analyze transmitted (Upload) and received (Download) data passed through each network adapter. In this case, you can analyze traffic from several network cards simultaneously. The received information is displayed in the form of a graph and a table with summarized information. The values are displayed in the main program window; you cannot transfer them to a text file or other document due to the lack of the ability to export reports.

A powerful utility that stands out from other programs due to its high-quality visual reports. The functionality of the program is at a high level - a built-in firewall, a separate block for generating statistical information for a specified period, the ability to manage remote connections and a developed notification system. When displaying a remote IP address, the flag of the country to which the network identifier belongs is shown.

True, not all functions of the utility are available without registration. The free version of GlassWire allows you to analyze data for a limited period (a month) and does not contain the function of sending alerts if a new connection is detected. The price of the full version depends on the length of time the history is stored, and starts at $50.

How to find out which apps are using up your internet a lot

Almost every app on your smartphone likely uses some amount of data on a regular basis. Some apps do this when you launch it while you're working with it, but others do it on their own in the background without you even realizing it. Sometimes applications on your smartphone use so much mobile data that by the middle of the month your Internet traffic may dry up completely, and where it went and what used it up is anyone's guess.

For people using a limited monthly data plan, it is very important to keep track of which apps are using data on your smartphone. Even if you have an unlimited data plan, most carriers simply start slowing down your internet speed after you reach a certain threshold - meaning that one renegade app that starts sucking up data in huge quantities (and this happens with apps that have bugs) may unintentionally ruin your plans one day if you find yourself in an unexpected situation, when, for example, you need to urgently send a message to someone.

Fortunately, any smartphone you own offers the ability to track data usage (both mobile network and Wi-Fi) directly in the settings and can even specify a specific application, so you have the opportunity to identify the "malicious eater" by allowing it to use the network only when connected to Wi-Fi, or prohibit its use altogether. It’s not difficult to do all this, so read below for instructions on how to control Internet traffic on your Android smartphone.

“Help with Wi-Fi” - traffic on iPhone leaks very quickly

“Wonderful” option, which for some reason is enabled by default. Its essence is that if your Wi-Fi signal does not work, and the cellular network can provide better speed, Wi-Fi will automatically turn off and data transfer will go through the SIM card.

Not long ago I fell for this bait myself - I sat watching videos on YouTube and didn’t bother anyone. Then the iPad didn’t like something about my Wi-Fi (bad signal, insufficient speed) and decided to turn it off (which is important - no notifications come!), and I, blissfully unaware, continued to enjoy the video via cellular connection. I came to my senses only after the operator sent an SMS message with the text: “Your Internet package is coming to an end.”

Therefore, in my opinion, if you do not have an unlimited tariff, this option should be disabled immediately. How to do it:

Let's go to settings again.
“Cellular Communications” item.
Scroll to the very bottom of the screen.
Disable "Wi-Fi Assist".

I repeat, this option should be turned off in almost any case, so that there are no surprises with the disappearance of traffic.

How to Monitor Mobile Data Usage on an Android Smartphone

The location of the required menu on “pure Android” and in launchers from different manufacturers may differ slightly, but in most cases its name will be approximately the same: Data transfer . In the screenshots above, from left to right, you can see the Data Transfer on the Redmi 7 smartphone in the MIUI launcher and on the Pixel 2 XL smartphone running the beta version of Android Q. Next, I will describe how to get to the menu on “pure Android” using the Pixel as an example, but you You can also use the search in your smartphone’s settings to speed up the process.

To get to the right menu on Android, you need to go to Settings , then Network & Internet and Data . In the next menu, click the More details and then you will see a list of all the applications on your device that in one way or another consume your data. You can tap on each application in this list and configure its data usage access in detail. At the top of the menu, you probably also noticed a graph that displays, relative to the selected period (which you can select in the drop-down menu right above the graph), the total amount of data used and compares it, for example, with the previous month.

This Pixel smartphone, on which the screenshots were taken, is editorial, not someone's personal, and therefore it only uses data via Wi-Fi, and even then only in small quantities, where the main waste is the system. However, on my personal smartphone, using the Transfer Data , I noticed, looking at my own results, that I really love using Instagram. Last month I used just over 4GB, and in July I've already accumulated 1.72GB of data, all in just one app. I'm on an unlimited plan that doesn't run out of data, so it's not a big issue for me, but if I were on a fixed data plan that was capped at 6GB per month, the information in the Data Transfer would mean to me that In order to download the next batch of pictures, I have to wait for a Wi-Fi connection.

How to disable programs that use the Internet

With the above applications, disabling programs is a matter of a few clicks (except NetWorx). Things are a little more complicated if Comodo Firewall and TCPView are not installed. Here again, the solution to the problem varies depending on the installed system.

Windows 10

The first thing you need to do is go to “Start” and find “Windows Update” there. By right-clicking on this section, you need to open properties, where this center is turned off. This way, updates that take up a huge amount of traffic are canceled.

Next, go to “Settings” - “Network and Internet” and select your network by clicking on “Usage Information”. A list of applications that consume traffic will appear, by clicking on which you can stop them.

Where does Internet traffic go on Android? We understand and control

The topic of traffic consumption is one of the most relevant for owners of any mobile device. If you exceed the traffic limit for the connected package, you can lose all the money on your balance and end up without access to the World Wide Web.

Of course, when using a Wi-Fi network, there will be no problems with content consumption (in most cases), because Wi-Fi is unlimited.

But due to the fact that, unlike computers, tablets and phones can be used via the mobile Internet, it is important to know how to view traffic consumption on Android.

In addition, mobile network tariffs are much more expensive compared to home networks, even if the telecom operator provides unlimited connectivity. Although in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union this happens extremely rarely.

How to find out Internet traffic on an iPhone or Android

Mobile Internet is now distributed by many cellular providers. Finding out the remaining traffic on your phone is quite simple: online through your personal account or using a smartphone. USSD commands to check the remaining packets:

Tele2 gives information in gigabytes by command *155*0#;
Megafon— *105*00#;
Vin mobile is a relatively new operator in Crimea - *815#;
Volna Mobile, also a Crimean mobile service provider, issues the remaining packets to the command *101*;
how to find out Internet traffic on MTS? Call *107# or SMS nano number 5340;
The motive will tell everything to the traffic number *114*102#;
But Beeline was cheated, and the rest of their traffic can only be checked by VLK.

How to determine the remaining Internet on Beeline

Since black and yellow networkers are so cunning, we cannot ignore them. A decent number of people use Beeline mobile Internet. The question of how to check the Internet on Beeline continues to be relevant, because the number of subscribers is constantly growing, and operator checking functions are not so easy to find.

The easiest way is to ask the answering machine how long you have left to use the Internet. You can ask this question at 06745 (or not, they will answer you anyway). In addition, the following will help you obtain data:

Internet command *102#. Here you will find out the balance, but additional options will tell you about traffic;
personal account online. This will require registration and filling in data, but you will always be in the know;
“My Beeline” is the same thing, only in the smartphone application.

How to find out the remaining gigabytes in Megafon

Sitting in this day and age without the Internet because of forgetfulness is simply insulting. Especially if you have a Megafon tariff plan. This provider gives users of the popular “All Inclusive VIP” tariff 20GB per month, but many smartphone owners manage to use up a month’s supply in a couple of weeks without any problems. Such people will benefit from the ability to control the remaining Internet. You can do this in any way:

using the mentioned USSD command or the combination *558#. Information about the remaining gigabytes will be sent to your mobile device in the form of an SMS message;
personal account on the website;
in the mobile application;
call the operator to a toll-free telephone number. You can call him from mobile numbers in Igorod throughout Russia. The big disadvantage of this method is the queue for the operator. Connection with company representatives does not always happen very quickly.

A good way to control the Internet is the personal account of a subscriber of any tariff plan. You can use this method through any browser: you just need to go to the operator’s official website and fill out the login form. Enter your phone number in the login field, and the password to activate your personal account will be sent via SMS to your mobile phone. After completing authentication, go to “Service Packages”.

Where to see Internet traffic consumption on Android

To control traffic, first of all you need to know where to look at its consumption. Any mobile device running the Android operating system has a special section in the settings for this.

A graph will be displayed with data about the traffic used for the last month. The concept of a month here includes 30 days: starting from 30 days ago to the present date. You can change the period for displaying data on traffic consumption.

To know how to control your data usage, it is very important to see your data consumption, otherwise it will not be clear whether your current tariff is enough for you or not.

If you use more than the subscribed tariff from your mobile operator, it makes sense to switch to a cheaper offer.

If, on the contrary, you consume more Internet, and it is clear that the traffic has already been used up or will soon become so, you should either connect to a more expensive tariff or control your actions via the mobile Internet on Android.

How to find apps that consume a lot of data

To control mobile Internet consumption, it’s worth finding out where the most traffic is spent. Any visit to the Internet and exchange of data with the World Wide Web occurs through a specific application.

Most often, the list of the most consumed programs includes the Google Chrome browser, YouTube, Instagram, VKontakte, TikTok, Play Market or games (updates in many games can weigh gigabytes of data, which is a lot for a mobile network).

How to find apps that consume a lot of data:

Now we can see who is “guilty”. This is another important point for tariff control.

How to reduce traffic consumption on Android

So, we figured out how to look at the amount of data used. Now let's move on to the most important thing - how to reduce traffic consumption on a mobile device running the Android operating system.

There are several ways to reduce traffic consumption. Each of them is described in detail below.

Set limit

The most effective and at the same time crude way is to set a limit directly in the operating system.

The limit is set for a certain period of time, and if it is exceeded, the device will block the use of mobile Internet even if the tariff of the cellular operator allows it.

Step-by-step steps to set limits:

Configure warnings about exceeding traffic consumption

A less categorical method compared to the limit is to enable a warning when the consumed data is exceeded.

Moreover, you will not just receive a notification with a corresponding message: the notification will not close until you turn off the mobile Internet or change the warning settings.

Disable auto-sync

Most apps sync regularly to ensure the most up-to-date notifications are sent to your mobile device.

You can disable automatic synchronization, but in this case you will not know whether a message was received in the messenger, an email, or anything else. At the same time, you will be able to save a small part of the traffic.

How to disable auto-sync:

The method is convenient in that you can turn off automatic synchronization in specific programs, and not in all.

Disable all background app data transfers

You can disable or limit background data transfer in all applications to save more data.

In this case, programs will not run in the background, but will only be active when used directly. This is not always convenient, but if you really need to reduce your billing costs, you should resort to this method.

Disable background app data transfer:

Disable unnecessary applications

You can completely disable unnecessary applications. In this case, they will not only not consume traffic, but also will not take up space in RAM and load the gadget.

Important: Pre-installed system applications cannot be deactivated or deleted.

Periodically turn off mobile Internet

A fairly simple tip for saving data consumption is to periodically turn off the mobile Internet.

Applications for monitoring Internet traffic

To make traffic control easier, there are corresponding applications. The best of them are described below.

My Data Manager

An excellent program that allows you to set a limit and monitor the data consumed. There is a tab with a map that shows exactly where the traffic was spent, which is quite convenient and interesting.

Traffic Monitor

In this application there are no problems with how to view traffic consumption on Android, because all statistics are presented in detail and accessible. There are statistical data for the day, week, month, year.

3G Watchdog - Data Usage

A minimalist-looking program, devoid of advertising. The functionality is very similar to My Data Manager, because in addition to the main features, you can view a map of traffic consumption.

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Testing Internet speed

An unexpected turn, right? Indeed, before you start fighting the slow Internet, you need to more or less adequately measure its speed in order to understand where the problem is - on the Internet or in our heads?

The first meter is https://yandex.ru/internet/ - a very adequate speed meter. No advertising, just to the point.

The second meter is the good old https://speedtest.net/ru - one of the oldest. Sometimes it lies a little on the larger side, but it’s not scary.

You can use both tools and take the arithmetic average as a basis. And if they show that speed is a problem, we move on to the next stage.

What does the phone spend internet on? How to set a limit on mobile Internet

Greetings to all!
It’s good when you use a tariff with full unlimited traffic on both your PC and your phone - you don’t have to think about anything at all.