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skullone / android_firewall

This is a fork of Droidwall by Rodrigo Zechin Rosauro - http://code.google.com/p/droidwall/
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Android OS Data Usage Increase #68

Open cguthardt opened 10 years ago

cguthardt commented 10 years ago

Whenever I enable the firewall, I get a significant increase in data usage of "Android OS". I use Android Firewall in Whiteliste mode on a Nexus 4. Tested with several versions of Cyanogenmod (10.1 to 11). Data usage of "Android OS" increases with phone usage. Without Firewall enabled, I usually get less than 500 kb a day, with Firewall enabled it's several MB (with the same amount of phone usage, checking mail and a few news apps several times a day).

skullone commented 10 years ago

Android OS is kind of a catch all for apps that use data. It generally is also tied to things like Backup and Restore or data syncing (Google+, Photos, Gallery, etc). Android OS using lots of data also isn't a new thing. Plenty of questions about it on the Internet and no real answers.

I use CM11 on my Nexus 5. Android OS has used 94MB since Jan 9 on data. Roughly 3MB a day. That's not bad and I certainly run AF on my devices. ;)

I'm at nearly 500MB on WiFi with Android OS but I also sync Photos while on WiFi and I take quite a few photos over the course of a month thanks to my 2 year old. So again I don't see any issue with data usage and the firewall.

Now you say you see the usage increase when on the phone? What happens if you allow the Phone app in the firewall? Does the Android OS data increase stop?

cguthardt commented 10 years ago

I am pretty sure that at least in my case AF causes the traffic increase of Android OS. Here are my observations:

Some time in mid-2013 I updated CM to version 10 and replaced Droidwall with AF. Later in the year I realized that Android OS data usage had increased quite a lot, from a few hundred kb a month to two digit MB numbers, which does make a difference on a 200 MB plan. My non-rooted business phone (stock Android 4.2.) still stayed at a few hundred kb a month for Android OS, even though used more heavily. So over the last few months I did dozens of checks, because I did not suspect this being related to AF. I upgraded CM, did a fresh install of apps, etc, pulled backups back in, etc. Of course I did plenty of research on the net, so I know of problems other people have with Android OS data usage, but they all didn't relate to mine. The result of my tests was that after a factory reset and fresh install of my standard apps that don't require AF (like mail, news), Android OS data usage stays low. Then I installed AF as well as a few games and others apps that I block with AF. Suddenly Android OS data usage went up again to what I had observed before! Even after uninstalling all these games and apps, Android OS data usage stayed high. Now a few days ago I disabled the Firewall, and suddenly Android OS data went down again to prior levels.

I think this is enough evidence to suspect AF :-)

WIth "phone usage" I didn't mean calls, I meant using the Internet connection (to use apps etc), instead of the phone just being idle. I have not monitored Wifi data usage, since I'm on an unlimited plan there.

skullone commented 10 years ago

Well it certainly isn't AF directly. AF doesn't use data.

Does it still do it when using Blacklist?

Since Android OS is a catch all have you tried using something like Network Log to see exactly what app(s) is using the data? If you can track the UID directly to the data usage you see figuring out what's going on will be far easier.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode.networklog

cguthardt commented 10 years ago

So I tested this with black list and it does not happen. The Android OS data usage problem only appears in white list mode. I have not tested with Network Log.