"My Pokemon Go Data Usage"

#PokemonGO: I thought it would be interesting to see how the latest updates have changed the amount of data used by the Pokemon Go app. I found it interesting, if inconclusive, and figured I'd share it.I wrote a clunky app last year to dump the information Android (ver 6.0+) saves about network usage. Android records packet and data counts across 2 hour intervals for each app installed on the phone, for up to three months.The graphsThere are a few things to note before continuing:Received data is that sent by the server to my phone, and sent data is that sent by my phone to the server.Using per-packet measure minimises (but not eliminates) the impact of differences in time spent playing each day on the amount of data received.The data is summed up for each day before processing/graphing to smooth it out a bit.First dashed line indicated 20 June, when the big update was released. The second dashed line represents 22 June when the new gyms went live.This is only my mobile data usage and doesn't include WiFi -- I will do renaming, some evolving, and check the surrounding gyms while at home. But I only play the game on my mobile data.And, as this is my personal data, and reflects my own playing habits. Spikes seen pre-update match up with when I was on holiday (around day 140, and playing less) and battling gyms more (Lead up to the gym rework) etc. I have been quite active recently and this might simply reflect that, though I'm sure my play style was similar over the last month or two.OKAY!The first thing to note is the extreme change at the point just after the update was released. I wasn't able to partake in raids until later on 23/24 June, but still this new trend is seen quite consistently. This would indicate more data is being sent each time the server is polled -- bigger packets on average from the server.The packet count in each direction is very similar. This is expected as the transport layer protocol used is TCP which requires acknowledgements to be sent when data is received. When more data is received, the number of small packets sent (acknowledgements) increases, this is why there appears to be an inverse relationship between received and sent data-per-packet when received data is high.During the weeks leading up to the rework I spent a lot of time prestiging, and this is seen in the amount of data my phone sent (lots of gym battles), and packets sent (possibly more time playing). This is gone during the days leading up to the rework (gyms were disabled) and returns in similar levels once the gyms return and raids begin. The new system basically uses the same system as the old gyms, and raids have more or less taken the place of training up a gym, when looking at the data sent/received.Interestingly, even though I haven't done raid battles every day since they were released, the data received per packet doesn't change much. It's clear in the graphs of total bytes/packets the days that I'm more active, but the data per packet doesn't drop much.More ResearchIt would be great to get more granular data. Looking at the 2hr buckets and not just days. Perhaps combining this with Google Fit/Maps data to see when I was actually walking to see the passive data versus the battling data usage. Maybe even see what others experience too.As there is a level of personal play style in the data, the way my style has changed could be influencing the usage data and cause the change. So more deliberate data gathering could be required. But as this is just the results of peeking at the usage is serves as a passing observation more than directed research.In ConclusionWithout going into fancy statistical analysis of it, there seems to be an increase in data per packet, whether raids are played or not. And it seems to be related to just the presence of the new gyms. But its too soon to rule out my own behaviour as a factor xD.I'll give it another run in a week or two or so and see how the trend develops.Anyway, I hope you liked this. If you want the data I'm happy to release it, it doesn't show anything that isn't already public now and it would be interesting to see what others can garner from it.Enjoy! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2uT4EDF