If you're looking for ways on how to maximize usage out of your
mobile data plan, you need to closely monitor your data usage. Although Android
has a built-in data tracker, there are times when it doesn't suffice to your
needs. Luckily, there are apps that can offer more than what Android's built-in
data tracker can do.
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.
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.
3G Watchdog does a lot more than track 3G connections. It can also track 4G and Wi-Fi 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.
Once installed, My Data Manager will keep track of all the data you use. It nicely separates it into Mobile and Wi-Fi 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.
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.
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