--- title: "Stop your Mac using all your hotspot data · Kilobat" url: "https://kilobat.app/save-hotspot-data" description: "Why a Mac burns through phone hotspot and capped SIM data, and how to stop it: see the apps responsible, pause updaters, block background traffic and set a data budget that works like your plan." --- A laptop and a phone on a train table at dusk, the landscape blurred outside Save hotspot data # Stop your Mac burning through your hotspot. Photo sync, backups and updates start the moment you tether. Kilobat shows which apps are using your data, holds back updaters on metered networks, and stops new connections when your budget runs out. [Download for Mac ↓](https://kilobat.app/downloads/Kilobat-1.9.0.dmg) ``` brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat ``` ## Sound familiar? - “I tethered to send one email and half my data was gone.” - “Low Data Mode is on. Why is it still using data?” - “My Android hotspot isn’t detected as metered.” - “The carrier says I used more than my Mac does.” ## Where a hotspot’s data goes. A Mac assumes it’s on unlimited Wi-Fi. macOS’s Low Data Mode helps, but each app decides whether to respect it, and it doesn’t tell you what is still using data. 1. ### Gigabytes gone in the first minutes iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive and other cloud folders catching up. Live upload and download for every app, in the menu bar, so you see it as it happens. Free: 2. ### Data used while you weren’t doing anything Updaters: Google Updater, Microsoft AutoUpdate, macOS Software Update, App Store downloads, and the helpers many apps use to update themselves. On a metered network they wait until you’re back on Wi-Fi. The apps keep working. Pro: 3. ### A backup starts on the train Backup and sync apps that don’t check what network you’re on. Travel allows only the apps you choose; everything else waits for an unmetered network. Pro: 4. ### Your plan runs out before the month does Nothing stops at the cap. A budget that starts over daily, weekly or on the day your plan renews stops new connections once it’s used up. Any app can have its own quota. Pro: 5. ### The carrier’s number is bigger Different units, directions or hours, and the phone’s own traffic. Put their figure beside Kilobat’s for the same period, with the hours Kilobat recorded and the likely reasons for the difference. Pro: Free ## See who’s using your data, right now. Every app’s upload and download, live, in the menu bar. Helpers are counted under the app they belong to, and system downloads say which app they’re for, so “nsurlsessiond” turns into the app that asked for it. - Totals come from the Wi-Fi and Ethernet counters, so they match what left the Mac. - Local network and AirDrop traffic is shown apart and never counted against your plan. - A VPN counts once, not twice. **What is eating your bandwidth?** Live traffic for every app, right in your menu bar. Catch the backup choking your call. Metered networks ## Mark it metered once. Kilobat remembers. macOS flags an iPhone hotspot as metered, but not every Android phone, a phone tethered over USB, a travel router or pocket Wi-Fi. Mark any network Metered, Unmetered or Automatic and Kilobat switches to Travel there by itself, skips its own scheduled speed tests and holds updaters back. Terminal ``` # Treat this network as metered $ kilobat networks cost metered # A 5 GB budget that starts over on the 14th $ kilobat limit 5 --cycle monthly --reset-day 14 # Which updaters are waiting $ kilobat updaters ``` **Is this network metered?** Mark each network Metered or Unmetered, or let macOS decide. Kilobat holds back its own speed tests on metered ones. Budgets ## Budgets that work like your plan. Set the size, the day it renews and when to warn you. When it’s used up, Kilobat stops new connections until the next cycle, or until you allow a few more minutes. Give a hungry app its own quota, on everything or just uploads, and see your carrier’s figure beside Kilobat’s. **Budgets that work like your plan.** Start over daily, weekly or on the day it renews, and give any app its own quota, or one just for uploads. **Your provider says more?** Put their figure beside Kilobat’s for the same period, with the hours Kilobat recorded and the likely reasons for a difference. ## What’s free, and what Pro adds ### Free, for good - Live upload and download for every app - Marking networks Metered, Unmetered or Automatic - Kilobat’s own speed tests skip metered networks - The full CLI ### Pro, $19 once - Travel: only the apps you choose on a hotspot - Updaters paused on metered networks - Budgets and per-app quotas that start over like your plan - Your carrier’s figure beside Kilobat’s - History by app, a year back Pro is $19 once for two Macs, with a 7-day free trial and 14-day refunds. [Free for students](https://kilobat.app/students). ## Questions **Does Kilobat know I am on a hotspot?** It uses macOS network cost detection, which flags an iPhone hotspot but not every Android hotspot or a phone tethered over USB. Set any network’s data cost to Metered and Kilobat switches to Travel there too, and skips scheduled speed tests. **Will blocked apps break?** Blocked apps can’t reach the internet until you allow them or switch profiles. Filtering affects new connections; existing ones may continue until they reconnect. Paused updaters simply wait; the apps themselves keep working. **Isn’t Low Data Mode enough?** It helps, and Kilobat respects it. But each app decides whether to follow it, and it doesn’t show what is still using data or stop anything at a cap. Kilobat does both. **Is this free?** Seeing which apps use data and marking networks metered are free. Travel, pausing updaters, budgets and quotas are part of Pro, $19 once, with a 7-day free trial. ## Kilobat for… [**Digital nomads**Café Wi-Fi, hotspots and captive portals, checked in seconds.](https://kilobat.app/digital-nomads)[**Bandwidth by app**Live upload and download for every app, in the menu bar.](https://kilobat.app/mac-bandwidth-monitor)[**Video calls**A report card after every call that says why it froze.](https://kilobat.app/video-calls)[**Students**Kilobat Pro is free while you study.](https://kilobat.app/students) ## Keep your data for the things you meant to do. [Download for Mac ↓](https://kilobat.app/downloads/Kilobat-1.9.0.dmg) ``` brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat ```