Apple TV data usage

4K PROBLEM SOLVED.

I was alone for 3 months with my new Apple 4K. My data was hovering around 500gbs for the month and it skyrocketed to 1.2 - 1.6 terabytes! So if you leave multiple apps running and don’t manually put the Apple TV to sleep, it just runs multiple streams and eats data.

So I closed every app when I wasn’t using it and always put it to sleep when finished. After that and with my wife home, 22 days in the month we are under 500gb still.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Since changing my ATV 4K video setting down to 1080P my data usage has gone down. see screenshot below. I Changed my setting April 1st.

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?

I assume its up to date. That is definitely not normal behaviour, take it to Apple for testing.

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

Is your AppleTV connected via WiFi or Ethernet? I didn’t notice much of a jump in data usage when I got my first AppleTV and connected it via Ethernet. Then we got a 2nd AppleTV and connected via WiFi, and our data usage surged. Wondering if that is the determining factor.

What screensaver is running?

I changed my Apple Tv from 4K to 1080P today being the last day of the month I’m down to 798 GB, 75% of the time my Apple TV sat idle. I love my Apple TV 4K but its not worth 300gb sitting idle.

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.