What is reasonable for data usage from the mobile app?

In general, FieldClock requires very little data to operate. The initial download of your company data will of course be a larger dataset, but after the initial sync the device will only send (and ask for) changes.

FieldClock data usage 

If you notice our FieldClock mobile app takes up a lot of cellular data from your device, here are some things to keep in mind: 

  • Images: This is usually the biggest bandwidth draw. The app only uses image thumbnails (generally 35-50 KB), but in some scenarios the full image (about 2-5 MB) may be loaded.  These scenarios include viewing Employee details, and QC note details. Additionally, when a new photo is created it must be uploaded and that will use 2-5MB of cellular data.
  • Cellular Coverage: If the device is in a poor coverage area, it can make connection with our server and upload data, but then fail the sync operation because of bad signal causing a disconnection. In this situation, it would have used cellular data but have not completed the sync operation which means the next sync operation will involve sending the same data. This results in a situation where sync sizes slowly grow over the course of the day thus using more and more data. 
  • Sync: If the device fails to sync too many times in a row, it will intentionally send up all of its data. This is due to the device assuming that the server is missing some data that the device has but that is not included in the sync. If this happens, the sync payload would be larger and vary in size thus using more data. 
  • Piecework Jobs: Active piecework jobs result in more activity to sync. This results in larger payloads. 

A common way to limit bandwidth usage is to keep the phone in airplane mode while in low cellular coverage.  This will reduce the number of failed sync attempts and retransmission.  You may also want to sync over WiFi for the first login, and when uploading many photos.

If you are concerned about the high amount of bandwidth usage taken up by FieldClock, please feel free to reach out to our support team at support@fieldclock.com