Mobile app using multiple GB

Picture is worth 1000 words. I opened the app maybe twice last month, I’m always on WiFi at home so this is actual mobile usage, I’m not using any widgets or anything. Pixel 7 Pro.

My data usage by Sense is much smaller, 70MB over the last year (it isn’t broken out by month on my device). Like you, I am on WiFi at home. I rarely force the application closed, so it is open in the background all the time. My device runs iOS, so that may explain the difference.

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I’m seeing similar Jeff - 92MB, out of a total of 245GB of cellular data for my “Current Cellular Period” on an iPhone. Given the numbers, I’m pretty sure that the “cellular period” for AT&T is back to when I last reset the counters, which would have been never (so since I first commissioned the phone, maybe 3+ years ago). Maybe longer if the AT&T counters are on the system side.

So @user152, I’m thinking that this is either an Android-only bug, or an accounting flaw. My Safari cellular usage over the same period is about 40GB.

I have measured the size of API responses on my particular installation which is 2 CT on mains, 2 on solar production, about 4 devices (these are all without asking the server to use compression).

  • Device List: 49KB, 5 KB compressed
  • Monitor status: 400 B
  • Monitor Overview: 2 KB
  • Device Info: 1KB
  • Always On Info: 1KB
  • Timeline: 20 KB, 3 KB compressed
  • History (48 frames, 1m resolution): 1 KB
  • Trend: 35 KB, 6 KB compressed

Depending on what you look at frequently the main contributors is probably one or more of DeviceList (I would say at least once per application start), history (the list of “x device went to standby” etc, or Trend.

So assuming you do this 10 times per day, every day, and that the app is equally (in)efficient with data using WiFi or cellular data, I would expect the data transferred to take approximately: 10 x (50 + 35) = 850 KB per day, or about 1 MB/day with a generous rounding up. If the API client/app actually asks for compressed responses (don’t know if it does), the numbers would be 10 x (5 + 6) = 300 KB per day. This equates to about0.3 GB.day (or 0.1 per day compressed) for a 30-day billing period, worst case (since one is rarely always on just cellular).

I can tell the JSON responses are not necessarily the very best designs from an efficiency perspective, but they aren’t that bad either. It is also not known to me how frequently one “looks”, how much caching there is (likely not much), and whether these volumes are substantially different depending on day, week,month or year view.

Either way estimates given by the two users earlier are not realistic for single day usage. Whether they represent a “forever total”, or “current billing period total”, is less clear.

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I am seeing the same issue, appears to have started with the latest release v44.1:

Thanks for “seconding” - I’m on iOS, but for me 44.1 is a new beta, not a production release (App Store is at 44.0). Might it also be a beta for you ?

Not beta for Android, V44.1 was released as production in the Google Play Store on 3/9/23

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I’m on a pixel 7 and my app is 44.1 and in comparison from February 23 to March 22 the app used just under 20kb of mobile data.

@waterboysh , so you are NOT seeing the same GB-gobbling on Android 44.1 , with your Pixel 7 ?

This is still happening, app version 44.1. I’m trying just turning off background data entirely now.

Since 3/22:
Mobile data: 233kb total, 117kb foreground, 117kb background
Wi-Fi data: 6.07mb total, 5.67mb foreground, 407kb background
Android.

For Beta, keep in mind when you switch versions it uninstalls and reinstalls the Sense app. Your data usage will only reflect since you last switched.

I haven’t checked the resource stats for the Web app. but it (non-beta) does seems to bog down Chrome quite a bit. Way more than I would expect compared to other things running.

Correct.

Android 13 on the February security update. I currently have the March update downloaded and the install has been pending for a few days.

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Hi all,

I am sorry to hear about this issue where the Sense app is consuming excess data on your mobile devices.

We are aware of this issue and working on getting it resolved. Unfortunately, resolving this issue may take awhile.
It appears the issue is only happening on Android; if anyone finds anything else, let me know.

Therefore to resolve this issue on your end, the best thing you can do is restrict background access on your Sense app.

To resolve this, go to the “Settings App” > App Management > Sense > Data Usage> Toggle “off” for background data.

If after you have disabled background data and you find there is still an issue, tag me and let me know.

Thanks again, though I am sorry for this inconvenience.

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Just had this happen the last few days. Version 44.3


Hi @scottcurrence, I’m sorry that this is happening. We are actively working to fix this issue though, and I’ll let you know as soon as I can confirm it is resolved.

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Hi all,

I wanted to let you know that the excessive data Sense was using on some Android phones should be resolved.

Make sure to update the Sense app and use it for a few days. Let me know if you still notice any excessive data being used on the Sense app.

Thanks for being patient!

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