Monday 28 January 2013

Change Data Usage Cycle in Android 4.1.1

Problem:

How do I change the data usage cycle in Android 4.1.1? The option to change won't show.

Solution:

The first screenshot below illustrates the problem: it seems as though the option to change the billing cycle does not exist! Notice that mobile data is turned off at this point.

Turning on mobile data at first doesn't seem to fix the problem as seen in the screenshot below. The option to change billing cycles is still not there.

To work around this issue, try the following: exit the preferences to the home screen, and open the data usage preferences again. You should be able to see the option to change the billing cycle now.

Notes:

This seems to be a strange, intermittent problem with the interface. This solution was tested using Android 4.1.1 on a Galaxy Nexus. Your results may vary with other setups.

25 comments:

  1. all good except my WiFi usage is on a different billing cycle, and I CANNOT change the Wifi data usage cycle dates

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Joseph: Yeah, I know what you mean. Can't figure out how to change the wifi billing cycle from the Android UI in 4.1.1 or 4.2.1, too. Hopefully Google will get around to addressing that bug. Thanks for the comment!

      Delete
    2. I have a different problem but related , my data usage is gone , both on mobile and Wi-Fi, it used to show , now all I get is the graf with nothing else ! Pls help

      Delete
  2. Thank you very much but, in data usage -->data usage cycle --> Jan 1-31,2035 ... I want know how to recover this,please ...

    sorry,
    I'm chinese , my english is low...

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi~ My phone is Nexus 4 Android 4.2.2 Setting --> Data usage --> data usage cycle --> Jan 1-31,2035 but,I want know how to recovery this ...Thanks very much, I'm chinese, English is low ,wish you understand my mean's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi 崔瀚文, I think I understand what you're asking. Sorry to hear about that interesting setting. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure how to address it. Just out of curiosity, is your phone's date/time set to the year 2035? (You can check in settings -> Date & time).

      I know that I've set my older phone to the wrong time in the past when automatic date & time was not turned on, and once my cell phone network automatically set my phone to the timezone for over a week, too! (Making my phone's calendar wrong by 3 hours).

      Delete
    2. * to the -wrong- timezone for a week.

      Also, thanks for the comment!

      Delete
    3. Hi,

      I'm facing the same issue. I have different cycles and the dropdown list is quite long.
      7 Jan 2015 - 23 Dec 2014
      11 Nov - 27 Oct 2037
      9 Dec - 24 Nov 2037
      6 Jan 2038 - 22 Dec 2037
      1 Jan 1970 - 5 Jan 2038
      Any idea how to fix it please?

      Delete
    4. Thanks for the comment @Jia Yin! It looks like a strange bug and I'm afraid that I'm not sure how to fix it. Sorry about that!

      Are there any commenters out there with ideas?

      Delete
  4. Worked fine on Galaxy Nexus 4.2.2

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad it worked Habeeb! Thanks for the comment!

    ReplyDelete
  6. m4ktub wrote (suggestion below): "I have a different problem but related , my data usage is gone , both on mobile and Wi-Fi, it used to show , now all I get is the graf with nothing else ! Pls help"

    Hi m4ktub, I'm not entirely sure how to debug that particular problem as I've never run into it. However, if googling doesn't help find a solution in the next little while, there are a few good data trackers out there that seem to be less buggy, according to some people: http://lifehacker.com/5916784/the-best-data-usage-tracker-for-android

    I know it's not the solution you're looking for, but I hope it helps!

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks a lot for your great attention and helpful working...

    ReplyDelete
  8. welcome, thanks for the comment Kenan!

    ReplyDelete
  9. for me it works when I turn off WiFi usage tracking..

    ReplyDelete
  10. how can i change cycle for wifi on nexus 5 4.4.2? thanks

    ReplyDelete
  11. how can i change wifi cycle on nexus 5 with 4.4.2? thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi and thanks for the comment @Blondi. I'm not sure if it's possible to change the wifi data usage cycle on the stock Android 4.4.2 on a Nexus 5 after the option disappears.

    If there's anyone from Google reading this, want to take this one on? It seems to be a popular feature request on lots of forums out there =)

    ReplyDelete
  13. What do you mean after the option disappears?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi again @Blondi, I must admit that I put in the part about "disappear[ing]" as an afterthought as I remember seeing the option at one point. However, I may have been mistaking it for a modified version/build of KitKat. Please pardon the confusion. Thanks again for the comment, and I'll be sure to post something if I do happen to come across a solution to changing the wifi data usage cycle in the Nexus 5 KitKat.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice... Clever post... Helpfull

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for the comment @Gyague Sonam! Glad the post helped.

    ReplyDelete
  17. actually iam not getting the current month of my data cycle if i click on "change cycle" option it is giving feb,mar,apr months only. now the month is june. how to recover from this problem iam not able to understand. can u please help me

    ReplyDelete
  18. Same problem with sanka...I can choose the future month

    ReplyDelete
  19. thanks for the comments @sanka and @Elisabeth Tan. Unfortunately I no longer have the Android version 4.1.1 installed as when this was posted in 2013 and am unable to reproduce the bug mentioned by sanka. Hopefully someone out there has solved this issue and can post a comment? In the meantime, best of luck to you two and thanks again for the comments

    ReplyDelete