You can check your phone itself to see what the data is used on. It could give you a clue as to what is happening… perhaps a rogue app or something else going on.

Hi Sophia,

You could be right!
I checked my phone and there were some apps that use “background data”. (I’m not really sure what this is for?)
My home security camera system seems to use a lot of this background data.

My phone has a feature “Data Saver” which I have just now turned ON.
I just got this phone recently and never knew that was there.  It’s purpose is to prevent apps from using data in the background.

I still don’t understand why apps would do this if my phone is connected to internet, but at my age, this fast paced technology is hard to keep up with. ‍♀️

I will wait until my next Koodo monthly billing cycle to see if “Data Saver ON” makes a difference?

Thank you for help!

Certain phones also have features like Wifi Assist that uses Data even if it is connected to Wifi, so check to make sue that is off.

Certain other phones (older iphones specifically) are confirmed to use data instead of wifi when it is asleep and not being charged as a way to conserve battery.

And also certain phones, will have the Data Off toggle reset to on after the phone is restarted.

These are things to be aware of as you dig into your data leakage issues

Thanks for your helpful tips Dennis!
With the advice from both you and Sophia my issue has been resolved.

I re-checked my data usage history for this past week (while I’m still home recovering) and almost nothing used! 8.6mb

Really appreciate the helpful tips! 🥰

That's great to hear It's unnerving when our phone eats data and I'm glad you managed to get to the bottom of the issue!

Hope for a speedy recovery. 

To add on, the background data feature uses data even when you are not using your phone. In this case, your security camera was trying to give you constant updates, which was why you saw a spike.

MilkyWay you guessed it!

My cameras always send me notifications when they pick up movement of people, cars or animals.

I tried turning off the notifications and a substantial drop in data usage.

I really don’t understand this because they are connected to MY home router!
Like I said earlier, this fast paced technology is hard for me to keep up with.‍♀️

They optimize for best network reliability, over the preference of sticking to a type of data. Unfortunately, it results in what you’ve been trying to search for.

To avoid this from happening, I would suggest you to turn off background data, so that it will only take snapshots when you open up the app.