[Q] Nexus 4 malware attack? Help please!! - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi All,
This is my first post on XDA and I hope that I'm posting in the right place!
I have a Nexus 4, 4.4.2 which has never been rooted. For what it's worth, I've always run AV software (Lookout from day 1, subsequently Kaspersky) and only downloaded from the Play Store. (I have always had 'Unknown Sources' unticked). I'm pretty careful with permissions.
In hindsight (a wonderful thing) things started shortly after one of the Kitkat OTA updates. Not absolutely sure which…
One evening, my lock screen clock suddenly showed my time as 3 hours ahead (i.e. Moscow: I'm in the UK) along with a rectangle giving my home time zone time. I googled the symptoms and it seemed widely reported so I just put it down to an update bug and carried on.
However, I've recently been having large, unexplained, data spikes in seemingly innocuous programs. Specifically, I had a 6GB spike attributed to Opensignal. I uninstalled Opensignal, but the data use continued, albeit on a smaller scale, reported in Data Usage as 'Removed Apps'. This was definitely data use *after* the program was removed: I altered the sliders to focus on the time after uninstall.
To be on the safe side, I gritted my teeth and performed a factory reset and altered my important passwords.
However, this is happening again.
'Removed App' data use has started increasing once more and have just had another large data spike attributed to, of all things, Kaspersky. Over 600MB in a day. All data is now turned off, but possibly too late?
Do I have to assume that the phone is well and truly hacked? If so, am I going to have to unlock and root the phone and side load a factory image from Google, or is there an easier route?
Many thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers,
Edward.

muso_ed said:
Hi All,
This is my first post on XDA and I hope that I'm posting in the right place!
I have a Nexus 4, 4.4.2 which has never been rooted. For what it's worth, I've always run AV software (Lookout from day 1, subsequently Kaspersky) and only downloaded from the Play Store. (I have always had 'Unknown Sources' unticked). I'm pretty careful with permissions.
In hindsight (a wonderful thing) things started shortly after one of the Kitkat OTA updates. Not absolutely sure which…
One evening, my lock screen clock suddenly showed my time as 3 hours ahead (i.e. Moscow: I'm in the UK) along with a rectangle giving my home time zone time. I googled the symptoms and it seemed widely reported so I just put it down to an update bug and carried on.
However, I've recently been having large, unexplained, data spikes in seemingly innocuous programs. Specifically, I had a 6GB spike attributed to Opensignal. I uninstalled Opensignal, but the data use continued, albeit on a smaller scale, reported in Data Usage as 'Removed Apps'. This was definitely data use *after* the program was removed: I altered the sliders to focus on the time after uninstall.
To be on the safe side, I gritted my teeth and performed a factory reset and altered my important passwords.
However, this is happening again.
'Removed App' data use has started increasing once more and have just had another large data spike attributed to, of all things, Kaspersky. Over 600MB in a day. All data is now turned off, but possibly too late?
Do I have to assume that the phone is well and truly hacked? If so, am I going to have to unlock and root the phone and side load a factory image from Google, or is there an easier route?
Many thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers,
Edward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you probably isn't going to like this, but for the most part, apps like Kaspersky and lookout does a lot of phoning home, thus use a lot of data. Some will say they are useless, but that's a judgment call. I have tried them but usually end up getting rid of them.
I don't know OpenSignal so I can't really speak on it. What's it used for?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)

no silly Malware are for Windows. You said Kaspersky? lol.... anyway seems like an app issue. I always enable > set mobile data limit to certain MB / GB. Try checking other apps aswell like (Google Plus, Facebook) disable auto photo sync.
To Factory Reset:
1. Backup your files from your sd card.
2. Download Nexus 4 4.4.2 (KOT49H) image from here.
3. Extract it using Winrar or 7zip.
4. Connect the Nexus 4 to your computer and run *Flash-all.bat*
5. Let it do its magic.

Berrydroidcafe said:
I know you probably isn't going to like this, but for the most part, apps like Kaspersky and lookout does a lot of phoning home, thus use a lot of data. Some will say they are useless, but that's a judgment call. I have tried them but usually end up getting rid of them.
I don't know OpenSignal so I can't really speak on it. What's it used for?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
Opensignal is a crowd-sourced mobile/wifi signal mapping app.
Can't post a link yet (only 1 post!) but if you Google it... Had it installed for ages and didn't use more than a few kB a day, as one would expect.
Really think it's something deeper than this, because programs are continuing to use data after uninstall and, although AV programs use a fair bit of data, half a gig for just definition updates seems silly.
Cheers.

muso_ed said:
Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
Opensignal is a crowd-sourced mobile/wifi signal mapping app.
Can't post a link yet (only 1 post!) but if you Google it... Had it installed for ages and didn't use more than a few kB a day, as one would expect.
Really think it's something deeper than this, because programs are continuing to use data after uninstall and, although AV programs use a fair bit of data, half a gig for just definition updates seems silly.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My suggestion would be to wipe your dalvik, cache and at the extreme your data, but you're not rooted.
The AV app(s) does a lot more than check for definition updates. They also check out the websites that you visit as well. That could account for the data used.
I'm not aware of an app that could wipe the mentioned partitions without root. Maybe someone else might know?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)

Related

random Network connectvity loss after app installs and reboot?

Is anyone experiencing a loss of network connection after installing a bunch of apps and then rebooting?
Its as if one or two of the apps are modifying the network settings (to something non CDMA based I suspect, since most apps were written prior to CDMA exposure), then after reboot network connection fails, all the sprint desktop default widgets force close (no network connection), and any attempt to get into network settings (or to toggle on/off mobile network via the power menu) results in a force close as well.
The only solution to date is a complete data wipe and reset, forcing you to re-install and simply never let the battery run down or reset the phone for ANY reason.
This is my 2nd phone doing this now, its got me really worried.
Anyone have any ideas?
Wow, am I the only one? And through 2 phones, damn.
salamandar said:
Wow, am I the only one? And through 2 phones, damn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds like an account provisioning problem to me, nothing from the marketplace changes apn (or whatever cdma calls acct. settings) i'd talk to somebody "in the know" at a sprint corp. store, or with customer service.
I am having the same issue...I already did a wipe 3 times on my phone because anything I try to do force closes...I've talked to sprint and everything is correct on my account...provisioning wise and no one has a clue what
I am talking about
I too am having the same problem. Have you guys had this issue after a fresh hard reboot or only after installing apps?
Happens (randomly) whether I install apps or not, and it seems to be a random amount of time.
Sprint Tech support had me do a dial pad code something like ##768# menu or close to that (call sprint tell your issue they will give you the code), course you cant even do that without a recovery wip4e since the dialer crashes every time you hit it. My only theory is PDANET, anyone else loose connection fairly soon after PDANET install? Since its typically installed via side load (not the typical apk installer in the OS), or maybe Sprint detects it and shuts us down, they are not kindly toward tethering in my opinion.
i've never installed pdanet, so i'm certain it's not the issue.
Ive been having the same problem since the day I got the phone. I originally thought it was related to pandora, but now I dont see any correlation between what programs I have and when the problem happens.
It isnt any one program. I have found if I go over 70 installed apps it will do it till you remove a program or two to get back to 70 or less. You dont have to hard reset. I have not come across a solution to this yet and I am not rooted either.
cm26 said:
It isnt any one program. I have found if I go over 70 installed apps it will do it till you remove a program or two to get back to 70 or less. You dont have to hard reset. I have not come across a solution to this yet and I am not rooted either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do all of you with this issue have that many apps installed? It sounds like so many things are starting at boot-up that it's overloading the memory. Android (just like other smartphone OS's) has a feature that auto kills tasks when it gets low on memory. If you have 70 apps there is a good chance that a large number of them are starting at boot-up whether you realize it or not. So it sounds like the result is Android just starts killing tasks at random to free memory and it's not doing it in a very graceful way.
That theory only works if all of you have a huge amount of apps though.
I thought the same but its not other programs starting. i have tried with just games, which dont auto start and same problem. are any rooted users having this issue? i have to delete a program to try a new one. 70 sounds like alot but it ain't.
cm26 said:
I thought the same but its not other programs starting. i have tried with just games, which dont auto start and same problem. are any rooted users having this issue? i have to delete a program to try a new one. 70 sounds like alot but it ain't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
70 games is likely to be over 100 megs. With all the Sprint and HTC stuff on there already if you add in 70 games and they are over 100mb then you are probably maxing out your space. Can you check your free space and free memory and report back?
30mb left it is a limit. i have 70 apps and if i install 1 more i wont have service and everything forces closed until i uninstall any app to get me to 70 again.
It's an app limit. It seems to only be on the Sprint Hero, and I can confirm it on three phones, the exact number of apps seems to be phone specific, but it happens somewhere between 70 and 80 apps, usually in the low 70's. The size of the apps doesn't matter, things like browser skins count for this as well. After you exceed the number, the phone becomes broken after reboot, until you remove apps, and reboot again.
Using google brought me to a thread on another android forum with posts from people who have run into this also.
My current solution has been to use ASTRO to backup apps 60 + to the SD card. Then in case the phone reboots (a rare enough occurrence), I uninstall a set of apps, reboot and reinstall them from the SD card. It is a very annoying workaround, and I would really hope that HTC ends up fixing this somehow.
Does anyone know if this problem goes away with one of the custom roms?
I am having this same issue, but I am not downloading apps. It just goes off and on every minute or so. I don't have to be doing anything. In settings it says standing by for connection, it may finally connect then in about a minute it goes off again

[BUG] Phone reboots during an active call + USB storage (apps2sd) full

Problem 1:
I've just rooted my nexus-s and I'm not sure whether it's due to rooting or a software conflict with apps installed on the device that's not compatible with android 2.3, but I'm experiencing quite a frequent phone reboot while I am in the middle of an active call.
Is there a way to capture the log of the phone's function and see what's causing the reboot?
Are anyone experiencing this problem as well?
Problem 2:
I probably have only used 240 Mb of the USB storage, and it shows that I have 13Gb free. However, when I put the check boxes beside the applications that can be moved to the USB storage (i.e. native apps2sd), I seem to have surpassed the limit allowed for moving the app for USB storage. I've got 21 apps that can be moved, but it won't allow me to move the 21st app. Error message says "[! Move Application] Failed to move application. There is not enough storage left." I've tried checking and unchecking boxes of different applications, and it has nothing to do with the 20 apps limit, but rather it's the amount of memory being moved to the USB storage
********************* updated 01-12-2011 **********************
Please report to Issue 13674 on google's bug reporting page.
hXXp://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=13674
Sorry, I'm a newbie, so I can't post outside link. Please change the XX to tt in the link above.
************************************************************
Well I have 23 apps on my USB storage, and I have the Voodoo Root kernel as well. It shows 2.1gb used, 11gb free.
I did notice a 'soft reboot' earlier today but it wasn't during a call, don't know what caused it but yeah. Honestly if I were you and the problem persists just reformat and start over.
Im having the same phone reboot problem as you during phone calls. I thought it was due to an app called Screebl being incompatible, but i just made a test call and it rebooted after about 18 minutes. Im going through my apps to see what else effects the phone state during phone call.
Ive heard of some people having problems with google maps causing problems during phone calls, or sprint nav (but we dont have sprint nav) So im going to try shutting down maps, and uninstalling my task killer, which i also heard can cause problems.
Have you been able to figure anything out? I really dont want to have to reset my phone and lose all my save data information from my games. My phone is not rooted, and i dont plan on rooting yet, so i cant use titanium backup for my data.
Phone only Reboots during active phone call, i can play games or surf the web on it all day long with no reboots.
So software issue in android 2.3, or some kind of app incompatibility im thinking
you can capture the log with adb logcat command, or download a logcat app from the Market http://www.appbrain.com/search?q=logcat
Why are you bothering with apps2sd? The Nexus S shares the Galaxy S line's hugh, I mean HUGE, 1GB of "disk" space for apps. I've got almost 100 apps on my phone and not a hint of low space. See the screen capture I've attached: 284mb used for apps, 724mb still free!
oh crap! please let it not be the same problem as in the SGS i9000m
that's one of the sign before the internal SD goes belly up
AllGamer said:
oh crap! please let it not be the same problem as in the SGS i9000m
that's one of the sign before the internal SD goes belly up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't they switch the type of flash memory used from earlier Galaxy S phones? I saw some discussion about it not being movinand any longer, or at least some sort of physical difference between what the NS has vs the SGS line.
distortedloop said:
Why are you bothering with apps2sd? The Nexus S shares the Galaxy S line's hugh, I mean HUGE, 1GB of "disk" space for apps. I've got almost 100 apps on my phone and not a hint of low space. See the screen capture I've attached: 284mb used for apps, 724mb still free!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha this may be the case, but I've inherited the habit of obsessively moving apps to sd/usb from using my Nexus One. Combined, I am using about 450MB of space for my apps at the moment. But this is a huge improvement from the Nexus One.
DumbUglyDragon said:
Haha this may be the case, but I've inherited the habit of obsessively moving apps to sd/usb from using my Nexus One. Combined, I am using about 450MB of space for my apps at the moment. But this is a huge improvement from the Nexus One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, I was the same on my N1 and even EVO 4G, but once I got a Galaxy S, never even considered it.
I'll wager the nand used for the "rom" space is faster than the nand for the "sdcard", another thing to consider. You're not even half-way used up with that 450...
americancrew said:
Problem 1:
I've just rooted my nexus-s and I'm not sure whether it's due to rooting or a software conflict with apps installed on the device that's not compatible with android 2.3, but I'm experiencing quite a frequent phone reboot while I am in the middle of an active call.
Is there a way to capture the log of the phone's function and see what's causing the reboot?
Are anyone experiencing this problem as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't rooted my Nexus S,but i've experience the same soft reboot during call.
I have the "End call using power button" option enabled. Im not sure if i was leaning on the button when it happened, but stock doesn't have a reboot option, so its unlikely. I suspect its a OS bug, rather than a rooting issue.
Let me know if you make any progress, i've since made calls with no problems.
Psosmith82 said:
Im having the same phone reboot problem as you during phone calls. I thought it was due to an app called Screebl being incompatible, but i just made a test call and it rebooted after about 18 minutes. Im going through my apps to see what else effects the phone state during phone call.
Ive heard of some people having problems with google maps causing problems during phone calls, or sprint nav (but we dont have sprint nav) So im going to try shutting down maps, and uninstalling my task killer, which i also heard can cause problems.
Have you been able to figure anything out? I really dont want to have to reset my phone and lose all my save data information from my games. My phone is not rooted, and i dont plan on rooting yet, so i cant use titanium backup for my data.
Phone only Reboots during active phone call, i can play games or surf the web on it all day long with no reboots.
So software issue in android 2.3, or some kind of app incompatibility im thinking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, I thought there were software incompatibilities too at the first place. I did not use "End call using power button". But after running the same stock rom with rooting and apps for a week, I didn't see the soft reset during the phone call. I have just installed a new rom on my nexus s, the R2 version of MoDaCo Custom ROM for the Samsung Nexus S. Running great so far. No soft resets.
** Edit **
Actually, after posting this post yesterday, I did experience another soft reset whilst talking on my phone. I have the same apps that I have been running in the background, mainly: google pinyin, paypal, k-9 mail, ebay, rhapsody, google voice, bluetooth share, and swype. I am not experience the soft reset in all calls, after I have installed the R2 version of MoDaCo Custom Rom. I will post any problems again if I do see this happening again.
I did a factory reboot/restore and that seemed to take care of the soft reset during call problem.
Have made several calls without issue
Its doing it again, this phone is going back. The screen coating is already wearing off as well. Hopefully number 2 will be better.
I have yet to get one android phone that hasnt had to be exchanged once. Android phones really need to have better QC before leaving the factory.
Droid 1: 3 times (keyboard, GPS problems)
Evo: 4 times (terrible screens)
epic: 1 time (Keyboard)
Nexus: 1 time (so far) Screen Coating, Constant Reboots
Phone reboots itself during an active call.
I have been experiencing this problem and it seems to escalate in frequency. I got this Nexus S on day one when it came out. However, I have not experienced soft reboot issue until last week, after the OTA update. Since then, it keeps doing it more and more and now it's like almost every active call I make. First, I thought it's software conflict. Now, having read this whole thread, I think it's an OS issue.
I also sometimes encounter with completely losing signal. The phone can not register to any network, and I have to reboot.
One more issue is the voice search apk sometimes activates itself when I shake or move the phone.
My phone is stock, and I do not have any issue with USB storage.
I like the phone for its speed, and the contour screen. It handles most tasks very quickly, even it's still a stock phone, unrooted.
I still have it until Jan 14 to decide whether I will keep it or not. Hopefully, there are some ways to fix these issues.
Mine is restarting during calls and also when not in use. It restarted 3 times during calls within 10 days, and I witnessed it restarting by itself at least once when the phone was locked and not in use.
I have an unrooted Nexus S, which I started using yesterday. The OTA came almost immediately after setting up, so I installed that. It appeared to be working flawlessly until this evening when I made the first call on it. It rebooted a few minutes into the call. After redialing it did it again, the third call I ended without problem, but was shorter than the previous two. A few mins later I made some test calls and it rebooted during both of them.
I did a factory reset and wipe of USB storage - I didn't bother adding my Google account and just made a test call which lasted 13 mins before I hung up.
I'll have to make some more calls tomorrow and if they work, I'll try adding my Google account and restoring stuff.
I had this same thing happen to me quite a few times reboot during a call or locking up after a call. I work to a company and we purchased three phones. So I switched with another one and guess what? Same problem definitely looking like a software problem.
This just happened to me for the 1st time a little bit ago. About 35 mins into the call/conversation, phone rebooted itself. Non-rooted here, I hope it's a software issue, that can be corrected within the next OTA update.
Are the spontaneously rebooting phones possibly overheating? Do they feel warmer to the touch than normal when it happens?
distortedloop said:
Are the spontaneously rebooting phones possibly overheating? Do they feel warmer to the touch than normal when it happens?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I cannot speak for anyone else having this issue, in my case - no. The phone didn't get warmer, or seem to overheat. Odd issue to say the least.
Stock ROM (2.3.1) here as well. Just had it reboot 10 minutes into a call, then one minute into the following call to apologise for the first dropped call!

Nexus 7 extremely slow :(

I got my Nexus 7 in the first batch from Gamestop on the day of release. Initially, the performance was very fast, even faster than my Galaxy S2. However, after a couple of weeks now, it has become extremely slow. It is still stock, havent even rooted it. It is a 16gb model, and has close to 10gb free. I have tried clearing cache, closing all running applications, restarting but nothing really has worked.
The problem is almost every app is very slow. I get a notification of an email, i click on it and then stare at the white email screen for almost 10 sec before it opens up (the regular email app). It almost feels like a different device now than what i bought few weeks back. Other applications that run equally slow - Google Reader, Chrome, WSJ (this is perhaps the worst), Fluent News Reader. I am not much into games so havent tried a lot of them.Oh, and it is no match now to my Galaxy S2 Skyrocket or even HP Touchpad Cm9 that i got rid of last week.
I don't want to exchange it as it does not suffer from all the other problems being reported here (and am afraid that the new one might exhibit those). Please help.
Just a guess, but you most likely loaded something on it that is doing that. Check what you have installed on it, perhaps uninstalling some of the larger things to see if you can figure out what is holding it up.
Stock Nexus 7 Image
If cleaning the device does not work, you can always flash back to the stock image, which can be found on developers.google.com
Be sure to backup your apps and data!
or for the most simple of us...
Setting>Privicy>Factory reset.
That will remove any app that might be causing it.
Be warned tho, i think on this device it wipes the internal storage...
how is your WiFi signal?
seeing how almost every app require internet access, the delay could be it trying to connect.
Actually I thought that too... but my wireless signal is very strong in my small apartment and i have 30mbps line. I checked with speednet app and i am getting 13mpbs down, 4 mpbs up on nexus 7.
I am happy that this seems like my issue only - i will try to remove apps one by one to see if it helps or worst case, i will do a factory reset.
I was wondering if there are any known culprit apps responsible for memory leaks or something.
dilldoe said:
how is your WiFi signal?
seeing how almost every app require internet access, the delay could be it trying to connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed how mine has been very sluggish when there are apps upgrading in the background or installing, etc. Maybe turn off auto update for play store?
dbjunction said:
Actually I thought that too... but my wireless signal is very strong in my small apartment and i have 30mbps line. I checked with speednet app and i am getting 13mpbs down, 4 mpbs up on nexus 7.
I am happy that this seems like my issue only - i will try to remove apps one by one to see if it helps or worst case, i will do a factory reset.
I was wondering if there are any known culprit apps responsible for memory leaks or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you send me a PM, I'll give you my email address and I can help you narrow it down by using screenshots of your app drawer.
install watchdog task manager lite, it monitors app in the background and tells you which one is causing problems.
have you tried turning off gps (location service) and see if hats the issue?
same thing
dbjunction said:
I got my Nexus 7 in the first batch from Gamestop on the day of release. Initially, the performance was very fast, even faster than my Galaxy S2. However, after a couple of weeks now, it has become extremely slow. It is still stock, havent even rooted it. It is a 16gb model, and has close to 10gb free. I have tried clearing cache, closing all running applications, restarting but nothing really has worked.
The problem is almost every app is very slow. I get a notification of an email, i click on it and then stare at the white email screen for almost 10 sec before it opens up (the regular email app). It almost feels like a different device now than what i bought few weeks back. Other applications that run equally slow - Google Reader, Chrome, WSJ (this is perhaps the worst), Fluent News Reader. I am not much into games so havent tried a lot of them.Oh, and it is no match now to my Galaxy S2 Skyrocket or even HP Touchpad Cm9 that i got rid of last week.
I don't want to exchange it as it does not suffer from all the other problems being reported here (and am afraid that the new one might exhibit those). Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted you to know you aren't alone here...I have been seeing the same exact behavior on mine. I have started to uninstall apps one by one. I must be a bad app or something. If not I'm gonna wipe it and start over. It does feel disconcerting to go from easily the best tablet experience I have ever had to it becoming so sluggish.
i have the same problem, mine did the same thing on stock, ran great for a week or two, then became unbearably slow. so i rooted it and it wiped all data and the problem seemed to be fixed. then another week or two passed and its back to slow. i found out after testing with quadrant it has something to do with the i/o on the device, because the i/o score was abnormally lower than all the devices. putting a custom kernel will help, but still the i/o score is still quite low. i dont want to wipe all data again and if anybody knows a fix it would be greatly appreciated
nexus 7 has Kingston eMMC, it is better then the crummy Prime Hynix eMMC, but is eMMC none the less, not proper NAND flash/SSD
Well you could've had a bad app that is bogging your system down. A factory reset may be the only option so you can start fresh
Sent from my Google Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Check the cache size of your Google Playbook or Magazine apps. It keeps downloading large files (400 mb) and may fill up your storage...causing it to slow down?
Having the same issue after owning it for two days. I really wanted to like this tablet,but between the sluggishness, and other various shortcomings, I'm going to be returning mine.
I deleted WSJ app and it seems to have helped a lot - not as fast as new, but a lot better. One thing which still irritates me is email app which just seems to be too slow...
Sorry to say but mine so fast I can't keep it down it trys to fly away lol
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Same
has anyone been able to figure this out? I'm having the same problems and I've been running watchdog but there been no out of control process is on my device. I have wiped the device and the same thing just keeps happening after a little while it'll get very slow. it happens more often than not when there something in the background downloading are using the internet, but it's definitely not my connection because I've had no problems with any other devices.
Been getting similar behavior recently. cm10 euroskank, trinity 7.
Edit: in logcat, getting stuff like
I/Choreographer(10656): Skipped 30 frames! The application may be doing too much work on its main thread.
W/InputEventReceiver(10656): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
I think I may have come across a solution. For me, the slowdowns were always connected to when something was downloading in the background, or when a process was using data, so I went through and turned off syncing on any non-essential Google services and other apps, and it seems to be working much better right now.

[Q] "Google Services" app suddenly started using unusually high background data

[Q] "Google Services" app suddenly started using unusually high background data
Please see the attached screenshots of data usage for the past three weeks. Two weeks ago I noticed a steep increase in the amount of background data used by Google Services, from the usual 1 ~ 2MB per week to something as high as 16MB per week. From what I can tell using 3G Watchdog, the majority is outbound traffic. I'm a light data user, only turning on 3G when I'm in transit for 2 hours a day to check email and chat on Hangouts. I don't recall changing anything significant on my phone in that period, aside from app updates and upgrading to 4.3 on the 24th. I'm on a light data plan, with only 100MB monthly quota, so this increase is very significant for me. Right now I have the restrict background data option enabled for Google Services to try to curb this new problem, but I'd still like to know what's going on.
to be honest, that usage is very normal, and still considered not much. anything can cause it to go up this little, yes it only went up a tiny bit. your usage, syncing, background notification checks.. id suggest more that 100mb for any smartphone as 100mb isnt really realistic for a smartphone.
simms22 said:
to be honest, that usage is very normal, and still considered not much. anything can cause it to go up this little, yes it only went up a tiny bit. your usage, syncing, background notification checks.. id suggest more that 100mb for any smartphone as 100mb isnt really realistic for a smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it went up a tiny bit in absolute terms, but relatively this is huge. We're talking about 1000% of what was normal for that app, without change in my usage pattern. I hear you though. 100MB a month is crazy low these days, but for what I use my phone for, it had been more than enough for the past 7 months that I've had the phone. I usually end up with 20 ~ 30MB to spare every month.
Shimakaze said:
Yes, it went up a tiny bit in absolute terms, but relatively this is huge. We're talking about 1000% of what was normal for that app, without change in my usage pattern. I hear you though. 100MB a month is crazy low these days, but for what I use my phone for, it had been more than enough for the past 7 months that I've had the phone. I usually end up with 20 ~ 30MB to spare every month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
20-30mb to spare? really?
yea, in relative terms, it is a huge difference. i average about 250-350mb per day, id never servive with only 100mb.
simms22 said:
20-30mb to spare? really?
yea, in relative terms, it is a huge difference. i average about 250-350mb per day, id never servive with only 100mb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, yeah, my friends on unlimited data couldn't believe it either when I told them I survived on 100mb. They use that up streaming a short youtube video. I'm in wifi range for most of the day. When I'm not, I keep it to emails, text chats, and the occasional live transit locator. On the rare occasion when I do browse the web on the go, I use Opera Mini to compress the traffic. It's definitely doable :silly:
I have the same problem as the OP, only my data usage is 450MB in under an hour. This has never used more than 2-3MB per day in all the time I've had an Android phone. I didn't even realize it till I got a message from my service provider saying I have used 80% of my monthly limit. :crying:
On checking data usage, I found the culprit to be Google Services, under which I see Play Services, Services Framework, Account Manager, Contacts Sync, Network Location and Bookmarks Sync. Is there anyway I can find out which of these 6 caused the data download?
My location access is disabled, and so is my App update over mobile data. My gmail and contacts sync are enabled, but I doubt if that would take 450Mb.
I have now restricted background data, but I sure would like to know the reason for this sudden spurt in data usage.
TIA
Some people are reporting around 180Mb/day data wasted by Google Services since 4.3 OTA was launched. Remember the size of the 4.3 OTA update is exactly 179Mb. MOST (if not all) the affected are using custom ROMs.
Can it be the cause? Maybe the OTA is being downloading again and again but it can't finish the installation process due some reason, possibly related with custom ROMs / Kernels / whatever.
trepamuros said:
Some people are reporting around 180Mb/day data wasted by Google Services since 4.3 OTA was launched. Remember the size of the 4.3 OTA update is exactly 179Mb. MOST (if not all) the affected are using custom ROMs.
Can it be the cause? Maybe the OTA is being downloading again and again but it can't finish the installation process due some reason, possibly related with custom ROMs / Kernels / whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using Carbon ROM, but I don't have any notification for any update...besides I thought OTA update will be a foreground process?
Cheers
canveen said:
I am using Carbon ROM, but I don't have any notification for any update...besides I thought OTA update will be a foreground process?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, but probably yes according to these people wasting data since OTA was released.
trepamuros said:
Some people are reporting around 180Mb/day data wasted by Google Services since 4.3 OTA was launched. Remember the size of the 4.3 OTA update is exactly 179Mb. MOST (if not all) the affected are using custom ROMs.
Can it be the cause? Maybe the OTA is being downloading again and again but it can't finish the installation process due some reason, possibly related with custom ROMs / Kernels / whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on stock everything, although I did manually flash 4.3. If it's downloading the OTA repeatedly, then it's doing it really slowly for me (like 2MB/hour). That's an interesting theory though.
trepamuros said:
Some people are reporting around 180Mb/day data wasted by Google Services since 4.3 OTA was launched. Remember the size of the 4.3 OTA update is exactly 179Mb. MOST (if not all) the affected are using custom ROMs.
Can it be the cause? Maybe the OTA is being downloading again and again but it can't finish the installation process due some reason, possibly related with custom ROMs / Kernels / whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
who's reporting? may you please refer me to it?
my case appears to be the worst among the bunch: Google Services used 4.4 GBs of data since the 27th
I'm on a cm10.1 nightly on a galaxy nexus and over the last 2 days google services has eaten 300+mb of data (approx 180 the first day then 120 the second until I hit my limit). The 4.3 OTA may very well be causing this problem.
Is this a widespread problem? How can we fix it?
---------- Post added 1st August 2013 at 12:36 AM ---------- Previous post was 31st July 2013 at 11:51 PM ----------
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=44157799#post44157799
Some further insight into the problem.
Carbon rom here. Same issue. Massive google services data usage in last few days. Like 600mb + a day.
What is going on?
nexus 4 data usage - google services
canveen said:
I have the same problem as the OP, only my data usage is 450MB in under an hour. This has never used more than 2-3MB per day in all the time I've had an Android phone. I didn't even realize it till I got a message from my service provider saying I have used 80% of my monthly limit. :crying:
On checking data usage, I found the culprit to be Google Services, under which I see Play Services, Services Framework, Account Manager, Contacts Sync, Network Location and Bookmarks Sync. Is there anyway I can find out which of these 6 caused the data download?
My location access is disabled, and so is my App update over mobile data. My gmail and contacts sync are enabled, but I doubt if that would take 450Mb.
I have now restricted background data, but I sure would like to know the reason for this sudden spurt in data usage.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
******* I'm having the exact same problem! my phone has used almost 500mb in the past day and now I only realised when my data provider sent me a warning message!
just lost 735MB in 3 days! nexus 4 CM 10.1.0-RC2
that's gonna cost me...
Just an update on my phone's situation:
Yesterday I flashed the phone back to stock 4.2.2 (including userdata, so everything was wiped), then upgraded to stock 4.3 again using the Google update service this time (I manually flashed 4.3 last time). I then did a factory reset and wiped cache. Initially the "Android OS" app ate up 6MB of 3G data in an hour without me using the phone at all, but all data usage is now back to normal after I turned off wifi network location service. I'm not entirely sure what did the trick, but I backed up and restored all my apps after the wipe using Titanium, so it's unlikely that a third party app was the culprit. I'll keep an eye out to see if the problem does come back, but for now it seems to be fixed. Not sure how this would help those of you running CM rom.
System Update Issue
I've noticed this same issue since i updated all my Google Play applications last 07/30. Before the update, I did not have this high bandwidth consumption.
Anyways, i've been researching in my phone and tried the following solutions:
First, I restricted Google Services background data, this did not work, it was still consuming my data. So I kept researching and found something interesting, i went to About Phone - System Update, and noticed my phone was consistently trying to update to 4.3 JB (which is 183 MB), and after the download was complete, then a "verification failed" error message was displayed.
At this point, i thought, This is probably the cause i've been losing all of my data. I am running ParanAndroid along with franco kernel for some time, maybe this is the reason the update is failing.
So, a rough solution i did to this meanwhile: Go to Settings -> Apps -> All and disable Google Services Framework, this will ensure that the update is not constantly being downloaded, however, many Google applications will have issues.
Try switching off Wifi and Mobile network location in the settings.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Indeed it all started on 30th for me too. A fix would be lovely! wonder if the latest CM10.1 nightlies have this problem
trepamuros said:
Some people are reporting around 180Mb/day data wasted by Google Services since 4.3 OTA was launched. Remember the size of the 4.3 OTA update is exactly 179Mb. MOST (if not all) the affected are using custom ROMs.
Can it be the cause? Maybe the OTA is being downloading again and again but it can't finish the installation process due some reason, possibly related with custom ROMs / Kernels / whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just checked the system updates tab in my settings and it keeps redownloading 4.3 due to it not being able to install correctly. It is redownloading the rom again and again. Does anyone know how to disable the OTA?

Hight CPU and battery usage on idle system; restarts don't help

I've got a problem with my S8 which is running latest, official, non-rooted XEO firmware. Specifically, it uses battery like crazy and heats up whilst doing nothing. This smells like a virus / malware infection or just... well, the last update was in December 2021 so it's also possible some system component is wonky OR... <shivers> some rootkit? I'm generally rather careful when installing apps, most of which will be coming in from official sources (Google Store) or at least fairly trusted sources.
Every so often I'll get a warning that a system component is using too much CPU and I should restart the phone - which obviously doesn't help at all. Also the battery drain is reported primarily by Android System and System Core (29 and 15% respectively). Battery usage stats generally don't add up because the listings don't add up to 100%. :/
I know the S8 is an old phone... and I know there are probably steps I should take prior to asking here - like a factory reset. But I'm really sceptical of doing a factory reset simply because I've got so much stuff on the phone that, while not impossible to backup, is certainly annoying (authenticator or banking apps for example - and I don't think the standard backup tools like those available from Google or Samsung backup such apps).
So I'd rather try some solutions or methods of dealing with the damned thing without resetting the phone first. Is there anything I can do?
You need to find the root cause. It may be a 3rd party using one or more of the Samsung system apps running under Android services, lol Legend for there are many... all lumped together.
A firewall with logging can help. Karma Firewall is what I use, uses almost no battery. Being rooted you have more options... use them.
Malware is always a possibility.
3rd party apps can cause hell. I don't allow any social media apps on the phone, ever.
Try in safe mode... if things calm down it's likely a 3rd party app. If so start going through the installed apps.
Clear system cache.
blackhawk said:
You need to find the root cause. It may be a 3rd party using one or more of the Samsung system apps running under Android services, lol Legend for there are many... all lumped together.
A firewall with logging can help. Karma Firewall is what I use, uses almost no battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will try that, thanks!
blackhawk said:
Being rooted you have more options... use them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is NON-rooted.
blackhawk said:
Malware is always a possibility.
3rd party apps can cause hell. I don't allow any social media apps on the phone, ever.
Try in safe mode... if things calm down it's likely a 3rd party app. If so start going through the installed apps.
Clear system cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, safe mode! I'll try that too! Thanks!
Shaamaan said:
Will try that, thanks!
The phone is NON-rooted.
Oh, safe mode! I'll try that too! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about the root thing, my bad.
If you're running on Android 9 or lower Karma Firewall's logging feature is fully active otherwise not. Samsung store>Galaxy Labs> Battery Tracker can be useful.
I use Accubattery's history page to get a quick idea of charge/discharge rates.
I use Device Care>storage>clean as well.
Make sure no cloud apps are running in the background.
Update: in safe mode the phone doesn't heat up and battery usage seems normal. So it's probably some app.
Alas, the firewall wasn't very helpful - it seemed that apps that attempted accessing the internet were your usual suspects - Play Store, One Drive or other sync apps, Vanced.
Any other suggestions on possibly nailing down the culprit?
PS. I've also decided to send Samsung an error report via the Members app - I don't know what their reply times are and I honestly don't expect much from them but who knows? Perhaps they'll come through.
Shaamaan said:
Update: in safe mode the phone doesn't heat up and battery usage seems normal. So it's probably some app.
Alas, the firewall wasn't very helpful - it seemed that apps that attempted accessing the internet were your usual suspects - Play Store, One Drive or other sync apps, Vanced.
Any other suggestions on possibly nailing down the culprit?
PS. I've also decided to send Samsung an error report via the Members app - I don't know what their reply times are and I honestly don't expect much from them but who knows? Perhaps they'll come through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why other than maybe text messages is anything syncing? Take out the trash and go from there.
The ones that are connecting every minute or more when not open are prime suspects.
Some apps like Brave browser need to be closed out when not in use or they eat battery.
You can also try a hard reboot.
Update!
I left the phone in safe mode overnight. I mean, it seemed like things were better, so at least I'd have a stable phone.
Well, in the morning I was greeted with a severely depleted battery (went from 100 to 40 in the span of 6 hours) and I got the "high CPU usage" warning popup. The phone wasn't as hot to the touch tho.
So... Whatever is going on seems to happen also in safe mode, albeit less often? Or perhaps it's less "severe" where it doesn't heat up the phone but the drain is still there? But since safe mode is affected it's probably NOT an app, right?
At this point I'm completely baffled. Any other ideas?
Shaamaan said:
Update!
I left the phone in safe mode overnight. I mean, it seemed like things were better, so at least I'd have a stable phone.
Well, in the morning I was greeted with a severely depleted battery (went from 100 to 40 in the span of 6 hours) and I got the "high CPU usage" warning popup. The phone wasn't as hot to the touch tho.
So... Whatever is going on seems to happen also in safe mode, albeit less often? Or perhaps it's less "severe" where it doesn't heat up the phone but the drain is still there? But since safe mode is affected it's probably NOT an app, right?
At this point I'm completely baffled. Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard reset... hold power button until it powers off.
Try temporarily disabling Google play Services at night, see what that does.
OK, I'm baffled. I feel like I didn't really do anything but the phone is now running fine. Battery drain now might be better than ever!
Warms up on usage, obviously, but when idle it's nice and cool and battery drain seems minimal. I'll... leave it for a few days to see how this develops. It's very difficult to tell what the heck's the case here.
Shaamaan said:
OK, I'm baffled. I feel like I didn't really do anything but the phone is now running fine. Battery drain now might be better than ever!
Warms up on usage, obviously, but when idle it's nice and cool and battery drain seems minimal. I'll... leave it for a few days to see how this develops. It's very difficult to tell what the heck's the case here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Retrace what you did. Reason being you may need to do it again. Really most times all you need to do is just "play" with it a bit (a lot). Almost impossible to crash a stock load, so explore and learn by playing with it. You are what you load and download; be careful with 3rd party apps they are the biggest potential hazards.
Once you have a fast, stable OS that's fulfilling its mission, let it be. Don't update or upgrade it.
Updates can and do break Sammy's. This N10+ is still running on Pie, current load is over 2yo. Rock solid stable and it runs like a bat out of hell with minimal maintenance. Security isn't an issue.
blackhawk said:
Retrace what you did. Reason being you may need to do it again. Really most times all you need to do is just "play" with it a bit (a lot). Almost impossible to crash a stock load, so explore and learn by playing with it. You are what you load and download; be careful with 3rd party apps they are the biggest potential hazards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a suspicion this might have been some Samsung app (my bet's on Bixby) since those are likely still able to run in Safe Mode that got updated and then fixed...? Does that make sense?
blackhawk said:
Once you have a fast, stable OS that's fulfilling its mission, let it be. Don't update or upgrade it.
Updates can and do break Sammy's. This N10+ is still running on Pie, current load is over 2yo. Rock solid stable and it runs like a bat out of hell with minimal maintenance. Security isn't an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm concerned about the last bit. I mean, upgrading to a new Android version is one thing but security updates are common, no?
Shaamaan said:
I have a suspicion this might have been some Samsung app (my bet's on Bixby) since those are likely still able to run in Safe Mode that got updated and then fixed...? Does that make sense?
I'm concerned about the last bit. I mean, upgrading to a new Android version is one thing but security updates are common, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kill wittle bixby... you read it EULA?☠
It's more than one apk though. Takes a while to optimize a Sammy the first time
Well... if it's set up and used right Android 9 will run securely in the real world. No saving dumb bunnies anyway; they'll still get tagged even with the latest version
The proof is in my hand. Loaded over 2+ years ago and this N10+ UI version 1.5 is running clean like a bat out of hell. If I do get malware I can't erraticate in an hour or so, factory reset and change passwords.
My data is redundantly backed* up 4+ times, plus the onboard SD card used as a data drive. I'm ready to reload right now if I have to...
A malware forced reload is still less trouble than constantly updating and having the updates screw things up. That means more troubleshooting, finding new work arounds and still maybe needing a factory reset on top of all that. No.
Not vaxed either... not buying the hype.
*critical data must be redundantly backed up or sooner or latter it will likely be lost. Never encrypt data drives as you are the most likely to be locked out!
blackhawk said:
Kill wittle bixby... you read it EULA?☠
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I'd love that - but it's a system app and removing those without root is kind of... impossible? I can look into disabling it completely however - I never use it anyway. Since it's not a single app - any chance you got a link to the list of apps that need manual disabling?
Anyway, I'm still getting those damned warnings. The phone isn't constantly hot however, which is some improvement.
Shaamaan said:
Oh I'd love that - but it's a system app and removing those without root is kind of... impossible? I can look into disabling it completely however - I never use it anyway. Since it's not a single app - any chance you got a link to the list of apps that need manual disabling?
Anyway, I'm still getting those damned warnings. The phone isn't constantly hot however, which is some improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Package Disabler kills bixby proper.
You can also disable it with an adb edit. That's one of the first things I do.
Bixby is a hot mess best dump along the interstate... like Google Assistant it needs external servers for many of its functions. I may change my mind but it's eula is like eating dry hardtack for breakfast.

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