Avoid Excess Data Charges On Your Android Device With These Apps

Avoid Excess Data Charges On Your Android Device With These Apps

Some of you may have seen our article on the best data monitoring apps for iOS devices. Well this week we’re going to run through a couple of the best data monitoring apps for Android devices.

Although the Android OS offers some very handy in-built data monitoring features, sometimes it’s good to have some extra help and protection. With the alarms, notifications and data usage analysis provided by these apps, you’ll never have to guess or worry about your data usage again.

3G Watch Dog

3G Watch Dog is an app designed to keep your 3G and 4G data usage in check.

This app requires you to enter the details of your mobile plan and then takes care of the rest. It will give you a rundown of your usage for the current period, current week and current day so you can stay on top of your usage. It will also represent your total usage for the current period as a percentage in a bar graph so you don’t have to worry about converting numbers or percentages. All of this information will be shown on the home screen of the app and will appear as soon as you open it.

3G Watchdog also allows you to set alerts and auto-disables your mobile data when you reach certain thresholds. For example, you can set the app to alert you and automatically turn off your data once you reach 95 per cent of your allowance.

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3G Watchdog settings your plan

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3G Watchdog Settings Alerts

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To set up the app you can follow the below steps.

  1. Open the app. If you are not automatically taken to the Settings page navigate there by tapping the Settings button in the bottom menu bar.
  2. At the top of the screen, input the details of your plan.
    a. Next to Quota enter your data allowance.
    b. Next to Per enter the frequency at which your plan refreshes/is billed.
    c. Next to Last Started On enter the date when your current billing period started.
  3. Beneath the subheading Alerts, enter the percentage of your allowance at which you would like to receive an alert.
  4. Tap the option for Auto Disable Mobile Data if you would like your data to automatically be cut off once you reach your set percentage.
  5. Tap the option to Auto Re-enable Mobile Data if you would like your data to be automatically switched back on when your plan renews.
  6. Set Refresh Notification And Widget to accommodate how often you would like your data statistics to be updates. We recommend Every 30 Seconds.
  7. Tap OK to save.

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3G Watchdog Settings

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3G Watchdog Mobile Internet Usage

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3G Watchdog should now be set up. At any point should you need to change the details of your plan you can simply open the app and navigate to the Settings page through the bottom menu bar.

You can download 3G Watch Dog for free in the Google Play Store by clicking here.

 

Data Usage Defender

Data Usage Defender is a great tool for those wanting a more specific breakdown of their data usage. This app has the standard tools like calculated current period usage, alarms and alerts and graphic representations; what sets this app apart is that it will show you how much data each of your apps is using.

There are four main areas that Data Usage Defender covers – the dashboard, apps, firewalls and speed.

The dashboard is your home screen and gives you a rundown of your usage during the current period. It will display the total amount used thus far, as well as how much you have used for that day. The app will also predict how much data you will use before your billing cycle refreshes based on your data usage for that billing cycle. The amount of data you have used over WiFi will also be displayed here.

The Apps tab breaks down data usage by app so you are able to see which apps are using up all of your monthly allowance. If you have used any apps while connected to WiFi, the amount of data used will also be displayed here.

The ’Firewall’ tab allows you to prevent certain apps from using your 3G or 4G data (note, this feature requires the device to be jailbroken, which we do not recommend).

And finally, Data Usage Defender has a handy speed test page so you can see the speed at which your data is uploading/downloading.

Much like 3G Watch Dog, you can simply enter in the details of your plan and the rest is taken care of by the app. It will run seamlessly in the background, and offers two styles of widgets that allow you to see your data usage at a glance.

In order to set up the app, follow the below instructions.

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Data Usage Defender Dashboard

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Data Usage Defender Monitoring Settings

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  1. Open the app and tap on Adjust in the top right hand corner.
  2. Enter your plan details, including your monthly data allowance, how much data you’ve used thus far (if you know this information) and on what day your billing cycle refreshes.
  3. You can opt to disable your mobile data by tapping the button next to Disable Data when limit reached.
  4. From this page, you can also set when you receive a warning (note you have to enter a specific amount e.g. 900MB), as well as a daily warning value.
  5. In terms of generating data usage reports, you can set how frequently and at what time the report runs.

Data Usage Defender will now be set up and will run in the background of your phone.

You can download it from the Google Play Store here.

Do you have a favourite data monitoring app?  Let us know in the comments.