Energy consumption due to network traffic on mobile devices continues to be a significant concern. We examine a range of excessive
energy consumption problems caused by background network traffic through a two-year user study, and also validate these findings
through in-lab testing of the most recent versions of major mobile
apps. We discover a new energy consumption problem where foreground network traffic persists after switching from the foreground
to the background, leading to unnecessary energy and data drain.
Furthermore, while we find some apps have taken steps to improve
the energy impact of periodic background traffic, energy consumption differences of up to an order of magnitude exist between apps
with near-identical functionality. Finally, by examining how apps
are used in the wild, we find that some apps continue to generate
unneeded traffic for days when the app is not being used, and in
some cases this wasted traffic is responsible for a majority of the
app’s network energy overhead. We propose that these persistent,
widespread and varied sources of excessive energy consumption in
popular apps should be addressed through new app management
tools that tailor network activity to user interaction patterns.