Waze Eats All My Cell Data
August 30, 2015 9:06 PM Subscribe
Ouch. My iPhone used 5gb of cell data this month. AT&T is throttling me. The culprit is Waze. I live in NYC, drive a lot, and need bleeding-edge traffic data (I don't use it for the maps). Any tips for making Waze use less data? I'd pause it for stretches where there are no route alternatives, but can't think of a convenient way. E.g. does simply turning off (not powering down) iPhone stop data influx to Waze? Any other tips for reducing Waze's data hunger?
End-tasking on Waze stops Waze using data. (Double-click the home key, swipe UP on Waze so it goes away).
You need to do this just before you get out of the car every time, so it's not running when you're walking around or it's sitting on the desk or coffee table.
If you are driving deliveries or fares around, you'll probably need a larger data plan, but if you're just commuting and running errands that should be sufficient.
You might also contact their support. It's been a while since I used it but they were responsive when I did. I suspect if you turn off most of the game-y social features that would also reduce your data usage.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:31 PM on August 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
You need to do this just before you get out of the car every time, so it's not running when you're walking around or it's sitting on the desk or coffee table.
If you are driving deliveries or fares around, you'll probably need a larger data plan, but if you're just commuting and running errands that should be sufficient.
You might also contact their support. It's been a while since I used it but they were responsive when I did. I suspect if you turn off most of the game-y social features that would also reduce your data usage.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:31 PM on August 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
You can toggle an app's permissions to use cellular data.
posted by oceano at 9:47 PM on August 30, 2015
posted by oceano at 9:47 PM on August 30, 2015
Even if you don't need the maps themselves, Google Maps gets its traffic data from Waze, so that might be an option for a less bandwidth-hungry alternative.
posted by Itaxpica at 9:56 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Itaxpica at 9:56 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: (I don't have my phone on me, so I may be misremembering exact names and terms)
If you bring up the menu that leads to the "settings/navigate/gas/whatever" buttons, there's a "sleep" button (it's the typical "power" icon) that will turn off the GPS/data part of the app (it'll actually say something like "waze is not using battery life or data right now" with a picture of a sleeping Waze icon) but has a button that allows you to "wake up" the app again and continue. So maybe you could run it for a while, then put it it to sleep, and then wake it up again later?
posted by Lucinda at 10:00 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you bring up the menu that leads to the "settings/navigate/gas/whatever" buttons, there's a "sleep" button (it's the typical "power" icon) that will turn off the GPS/data part of the app (it'll actually say something like "waze is not using battery life or data right now" with a picture of a sleeping Waze icon) but has a button that allows you to "wake up" the app again and continue. So maybe you could run it for a while, then put it it to sleep, and then wake it up again later?
posted by Lucinda at 10:00 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
I assume you figured out the culprit through the Cellular usage info in the phone settings? I just ask because I use Waze quite a bit (daily commute both ways, plus just about anywhere I go at other times), and it's not even close to my top data user. Since I last reset it, the total data usage on my phone is 35GB, with less than 400MB of that being Waze (Facebook comes in at almost 3GB, Twitter at 5GB). If you're sure it's Waze, the above suggestions are good; I just wanted to check that you're not just assuming.
FWIW, regarding Google Maps, it does get some traffic data from Waze, but I find it much less useful in my daily commute. It doesn't seem to re-route as aggressively around traffic, and it doesn't warn me about hazards and such. Waze is ugly as sin, but really useful...
posted by primethyme at 10:15 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
FWIW, regarding Google Maps, it does get some traffic data from Waze, but I find it much less useful in my daily commute. It doesn't seem to re-route as aggressively around traffic, and it doesn't warn me about hazards and such. Waze is ugly as sin, but really useful...
posted by primethyme at 10:15 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
I would be very surprised if Waze is the cause of your data woes unless you have it running literally 24x7. I use it for 20 hours or more a week and in its worst month of the last 4 used less than 140MB of data.
posted by wierdo at 10:57 PM on August 30, 2015
posted by wierdo at 10:57 PM on August 30, 2015
In your Settings > Waze do you have Background App activated? Unfortunately — and surprisingly — Waze doesn't seem to have an option for "only when using app" for the Allow Location Access like some apps. Only Always or Never.
posted by terrapin at 5:29 AM on August 31, 2015
posted by terrapin at 5:29 AM on August 31, 2015
Best answer:
posted by Brian Puccio at 6:14 AM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
End-tasking on Waze stops Waze using data. (Double-click the home key, swipe UP on Waze so it goes away).I agree you need to stop Waze from using data (and GPS) in the background. That will save you both data and battery. But you can also just hit the power button in the main menu in Waze. It will then tell you you're not using data, GPS or getting points.
posted by Brian Puccio at 6:14 AM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I hadn't actually checked the details of my cell data consumption, because the only difference in my usage pattern this month was my additional use of Waze.
However, I just checked, and while Waze has indeed consumed a bunch of data, it's dwarfed by Pocket Casts, which I've been using for years and never had a problem with....but this month it seems to have gone nuts (same version as always, and same usage pattern on my end).
I've written to them, but their support is usually pretty ditzy. Meanwhile, I'll look for the power button in Waze and use that to manage background data issues, thanks.
posted by Quisp Lover at 7:38 AM on August 31, 2015
However, I just checked, and while Waze has indeed consumed a bunch of data, it's dwarfed by Pocket Casts, which I've been using for years and never had a problem with....but this month it seems to have gone nuts (same version as always, and same usage pattern on my end).
I've written to them, but their support is usually pretty ditzy. Meanwhile, I'll look for the power button in Waze and use that to manage background data issues, thanks.
posted by Quisp Lover at 7:38 AM on August 31, 2015
Unrelated to Waze, but if PocketCasts is causing you issues, I suggest checking out Overcast. The developer (Marco Arment, who created Instapaper) is *very* conscientious of user's data usage with his app.
posted by cgg at 9:00 AM on August 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by cgg at 9:00 AM on August 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: No go on overcast; I don't have much storage on the phone so prefer to stream (and overcast won't stream). I realize that means more data transfer, but shouldn't mean gbs of data....
posted by Quisp Lover at 11:30 AM on August 31, 2015
posted by Quisp Lover at 11:30 AM on August 31, 2015
Not to derail tooo far, but Overcast 2.0, which is likely launching soon (timed with the release of iOS 9 in mid-September, I think) should support streaming, based on what I recall hearing Marco discuss on his podcast.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:04 PM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by misterbrandt at 10:04 PM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by raw sugar at 9:17 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]