Does anyone else have a problem with their Apple TV using a lot of data? I got a new one and it's burned through 1450GB in 18 days. I'm doing a bit more streaming, none of it in 4K, so I don't understand what could be going on. I've turned off the Arial screensaver, that wasn't a problem for my old ATV, and turned off One Homescreen.
Any ideas what could be causing it? I've checked and nothing else is different on my network, no wifi stealing or stuff like that.
Apple TV 4K
I can literally watch it spike to over 3.5 Mbps - check out the graph below - from my router - disconnecting the plug to the apple TV @ 6pm - shuts it down as show. I rebooted, and updated the IOS software - ANYone else seeing this ? It was sent to me via the DirectTv Deal.
I can literally watch it spike to over 3.5 Mbps - check out the graph below - from my router - disconnecting the plug to the apple TV @ 6pm - shuts it down as show. I rebooted, and updated the IOS software - ANYone else seeing this ? It was sent to me via the DirectTv Deal.
Since i posted on 4th Mayy (where we had used nearly 200GB in 4 days) i have found out the cause fr our data usage
Watch this video. --> How to Quit Apps on Apple TV - YouTube
So it turns out that even when putting the apple tv to sleep, it was still consuming data - it seems like not closing the directv app was the problem. 13 days later, we are closing off the app each time after we are done watching tv and my data use is now sitting at 348GB (so 150GB used in 13 days) admittedly haven't watched a heap of TV this month (but i hadnt been those 4 days at the start of May ether)
Feel much happier knowing that we definitely are not going to go over the limit now.
Nope i haven't reported this. The directv app is the only one we use really (Netflix too but that's to watch a single episode or film at a time etc) where as the directvnow app is continuously streaming.
Its very odd that putting the appletv to sleep doesnt actually cease activity though - but when i looked at the apple tv on device usage screen in the xfinity portal it was showing constantly high levels of use 24 hours a day, Since closing the app after i have used them (a pain i know) it is far more reflective of use (as can be seen below).
1080p Netflix and iTunes movies from the cloud. Verified it's not 4K. iCloud photos not set for screensaver. ATV is up to date. I do game, but there haven't been any changes in my gaming habits (no new games or more game time).
Netflix would be 1080, unless your account/subscription is set to stream 4K.
Itunes content would be streaming in 4K unless you've also set your ATV to only output in 1080 via settings.
How much streaming (hours) in a typical day?
If you are online gaming on top of the increase to video streaming then that's a factor. Games also have updates, which can sometimes be fairly large, if you haven't checked settings those can be loading in the background.
A couple hours every day. The ATV is set to 1080 and I only have a 1080p tv.
And a couple hours of gaming a day too. Mainly Overwatch. Small updates here and there. Nothing in the hundreds of GB.
I unplugged that ATV and am still using my other one (non 4K), data usage went down to next to nothing. So, I've narrowed it down to that particular ATV.
2 hours of HD content would be around 5-6GB, 18 days would bring that to over 100.
Thats not counting any gaming, updates or any other content using data
I have a 4th Gen and a current model and closely monitor bandwidth..with no difference detected unless streaming in 4K
You can take it to Apple to test the hardware for verification
HI
I just switched from a 4th gen to 4k Apple TV- I can watch my bandwith monitor from my router when the ATV is plugged it every 30seconds I see a outbound spike of almost 5MB of data - nothing is running on the box other than a screen saver - VERY STRANGE>
HI
Yes - on Xfinity site I can see data use - since 3/1 I've used 256GB of data - In that time I have not watched ANY 4k content on the apple unit nor I have a streamed 4k anywhere else. I use Glasswire and it is showing the Apple TV as driving that bandwidth use.
Kevin and Mike,
Did you take this up with Apple? I have been running into the same problem and pin pointed it to the my ATV 4K. I opened a case with a Senior Tech who took it up to Engineering. Waiting to hear back, but was wondering what your outcome was?
My ATV 4K is burning through 130-180GB a day without any streaming going on. ATV 4K unplugged or sleeping, my total home average is 3-7GB.
Ohio..
There clearly is an issue that apple is not responding to. I replaced by apple 4k and the problem persists. Seems to happen with Comcast, ATT and DTV... HOPEFULLY SOMONE FROM APPLE IS MONITORING. I've now confirmed this happens over Ethernet and Wireless.
Has anyone got any updates on this? our apple4ktv came with the directv deal too
For the past 2 months, despite not changing our streaming habits we are going over the 1TB xfinity limit. Since 1st May we have already used 200GB :O
Have been very actively going into the menu and making sure it goes to sleep - however it looks like it is still using data according to the 24 hour data usage in xfinity.
Using Directv Now a few hours a day, netflix maybe 2 hours a day. Worried at this rate we will be exceeding the 1 TB by mid month
How do you know exactly how much data your Apple TV has used? I'm trying to help a customer pin down the source of data overages at his house, and I don't know how to tell how much data each device is consuming.
Thanks!
Im with xfinity and if you log into the account online or with the app tells you how much as a percentage of data used a particular device uses (tells you past 24 hours and also past 30 days).
So last month i used 1.2TB and 78% was used by my apple tv (as i am using this for directvtv, catch up on apps and netflix this isn't surprising. However what was suprisng was how much it was using.
Turns out if you dont close the directv app it continues to run and use data.
This month its usage is now 50% (have watched less tv and been using my computer more) of 348GB currently.
So it turns out that even when putting the apple tv to sleep, it was still consuming data - it seems like not closing the directv app was the problem.
Interesting. How did you find out which app it was, and have you reported the misbehavior to the developers?
Apple TV data usage
