[simple17]

BBM often slinkingly uploads lots of data and drains the battery faster, that's driving me crazy!

I have never logged in BBM and the relevant apps like twitter. So what is BBM uploading and downloading? It's so weird!

I tried to ask for help from blackberryhelp, but that was a disappointed experience!

I have been trying to find out some clues for the trigger condition.

Some laws as following:

1\The issue happens only on mobile network. The issue doesn't happen even through q10 is left home several days only if it be on WIFI. And WIFI can make the uploading/downloading end faster.

2\upload about 50M and downloading about 20M;

So why does the mobile network make the issue happen? and the more important thing is what BBM uploads?

Blackberry must give us an answer.

A lot of results about the issue of BBM draining battery are searched, but most of people haven't realized that the reason is that BBM is uploading/downloading data slinkingly . Perhaps though some people notice BBM is uploading/downloading data, they think it normal like synchronizing contacts, etc. But you will find out the truth what the real issue is only when you have never used and even logged in BBM ( Permission to Connect to BBM is OFF for any relevant app).

So it's very clear that the cause of the issue is not OS version, BBM version, synchronizing contacts, lots of group and contacts in BBM, or Android Apps.

We need to know what BBM is uploading slinkingly and why?

[Joshu42]

Check Settings > Security and Privacy > Applications Permissions > Connect to BBM

[simple17]

There is no permission to Connect to BBM for any app listed in that setting.

[robsteve]

Check under settings, security and privacy,diagnostics. If it is set to on, it is sending data to Blackberry. It says securely transmitted to BlackBerry, which probably means via their noc, which may look like BBM data.




Posted via CB10

[simple17]

Check under settings, security and privacy,diagnostics. If it is set to on, it is sending data to Blackberry. It says securely transmitted to BlackBerry, which probably means via their noc, which may look like BBM data.




Posted via CB10

Thanks, but it's Off!

[robsteve]

If it only happens on mobile, it may be your carrier collecting usage data and sending it. If you have any carrier apps and you are not using them, try deleting them and see if the data use stops.

Posted via CB10

[simple17]

If it only happens on mobile, it may be your carrier collecting usage data and sending it. If you have any carrier apps and you are not using them, try deleting them and see if the data use stops.

Posted via CB10

Thanks. But that doesn't well explain why the app uploading data is BBM and the amount of uploading data is over 40M, especially it have never been used.

That is the weird part.

[Emmerich]

Yes, I know I'm bumping an almost 4 year-old topic however like the OP I too haven't even set up BBM at all, nor do I have any setting on the phone configured to permit such things (nothing in privacy/diagnostics/permissions for BBM/backup/etc) yet I see BBM consuming mobile data both in downloads/uploads constantly. I have no carrier apps on my device, either.

There have been several topics about data being uploaded and downloaded mysteriously by core apps—specifically System/Standby/BBM—despite the OPs confirming they have no settings enabled that would cause such obvious usage, yet the replies I saw in those topics were inconclusive.

There was one user who believed it's BlackBerry uploading contacts to their servers (something they claimed wasn't possible to disable), however the last time I read the fine print on BlackBerry's site about automatic contact sync'ing on user's BlackBerry ID accounts it stated only BBM contacts are sync'd, not regular contacts. Additionally my contacts haven't changed in weeks yet the BBM app according to the Device Manager stats has continued to upload and download at differing rates throughout.

Does anyone have some actual insight to this?

[valer466]

Yes, I know I'm bumping an almost 4 year-old topic however like the OP I too haven't even set up BBM at all, nor do I have any setting on the phone configured to permit such things (nothing in privacy/diagnostics/permissions for BBM/backup/etc) yet I see BBM consuming mobile data both in downloads/uploads constantly. I have no carrier apps on my device, either.

There have been several topics about data being uploaded and downloaded mysteriously by core apps—specifically System/Standby/BBM—despite the OPs confirming they have no settings enabled that would cause such obvious usage, yet the replies I saw in those topics were inconclusive.

There was one user who believed it's BlackBerry uploading contacts to their servers (something they claimed wasn't possible to disable), however the last time I read the fine print on BlackBerry's site about automatic contact sync'ing on user's BlackBerry ID accounts it stated only BBM contacts are sync'd, not regular contacts. Additionally my contacts haven't changed in weeks yet the BBM app according to the Device Manager stats has continued to upload and download at differing rates throughout.

Does anyone have some actual insight to this?

Let's hope some die hard bb10 guys help you out here. I say die hard, because all the hard ones dumped bb10 as it got clunky, way back in 2014 itself. You should dump it too.

[Emmerich]

Let's hope some die hard bb10 guys help you out here. I say die hard, because all the hard ones dumped bb10 as it got clunky, way back in 2014 itself. You should dump it too.

Obviously from these earlier threads such users at the time hadn't either noticed these topics regarding this or weren't aware of the cause. However there's no other OS to turn to for my needs so there's nothing to dump.

Go to Android with even more blatant tracking, privacy invasive permissions, vulnerabilities, and limited OS update support cycles (which if left unpatched lead to further vulnerabilities—something BB10 avoids by mere fact of being so untargeted due to minuscule market share)? Or iOS with it's walled garden approach and unsatisfactory file management support, not to mention famously their past factory worker conditions (which was one of the reasons I specifically bought BlackBerrys not assembled in China). Personally there's no alternative apart from feature phones.

[valer466]

Obviously from these earlier threads such users at the time hadn't either noticed these topics regarding this or weren't aware of the cause. However there's no other OS to turn to for my needs so there's nothing to dump.

Go to Android with even more blatant tracking, privacy invasive permissions, vulnerabilities, and limited OS update support cycles (which if left unpatched lead to further vulnerabilities—something BB10 avoids by mere fact of being so untargeted due to minuscule market share)? Or iOS with it's walled garden approach and unsatisfactory file management support, not to mention famously their past factory worker conditions (which was one of the reasons I specifically bought BlackBerrys not assembled in China). Personally there's no alternative apart from feature phones.

Nope. Your BB10 OS is not secure as you think. That's the least I can say without saying too much.

[Emmerich]

Nope. Your BB10 OS is not secure as you think. That's the least I can say without saying too much.

I didn't say BB10 is the most secure per se, but it benefits from its relatively marginal market share (and it certainly does). Also, what's 'too much'? BlackBerry don't police this forum. There are various posts on Crackberry that are vague, explain what you mean at least.

[Thud Hardsmack]

Obviously from these earlier threads such users at the time hadn't either noticed these topics regarding this or weren't aware of the cause. However there's no other OS to turn to for my needs so there's nothing to dump.

Go to Android with even more blatant tracking, privacy invasive permissions, vulnerabilities, and limited OS update support cycles (which if left unpatched lead to further vulnerabilities—something BB10 avoids by mere fact of being so untargeted due to minuscule market share)? Or iOS with it's walled garden approach and unsatisfactory file management support, not to mention famously their past factory worker conditions (which was one of the reasons I specifically bought BlackBerrys not assembled in China). Personally there's no alternative apart from feature phones.

Get a Pixel or BlackBerry-branded Android and your updates will be regular, as well as having a OS version that has granular permission control.

And you can also remove BBM from the equation, thereby solving your mysterious data upload.

[Thud Hardsmack]

I didn't say BB10 is the most secure per se, but it benefits from its relatively marginal market share (and it certainly does). Also, what's 'too much'? BlackBerry don't police this forum. There are various posts on Crackberry that are vague, explain what you mean at least.

What he's saying is due to it's age and lack of development, there won't be any security patches.

[Emmerich]

What he's saying is due to it's age and lack of development, there won't be any security patches.

I'd be interested to hear from them to know if that is what they mean, as my general point in the previous posts is that what you described will also occur to the majority of Android devices after a couple years, since manufacturers expect consumers to replace their phones regularly (which isn't something I intend to do) and so discontinue updates.

The difference being that leaving a device unpatched on Android compared to BB10 opens a user to more severe known and exploited vulnerabilities simply due to the former having a widespread market share and the latter significantly smaller. In other words, it's disproportionally worth more to white and blackhats' time to search for exploits with more widely used OSes—even government agency leaks almost exclusively detail only Android/iOS exploits for this reason.

So while I could replace my device with a BlackBerry Android phone the issues I have is they are increasingly being assembled in China (eg: the KeyOne) and are prone to the same lack of long-term security update lifecycle (more critical since it's solely Android).

Ultimately I was simply after any real answers to why the unused BBM app on BB10 is consuming data but it seems the only response is to replace the device with a new phone.

[Chuck Finley69]

I'd be interested to hear from them to know if that is what they mean, as my general point in the previous posts is that what you described will also occur to the majority of Android devices after a couple years, since manufacturers expect consumers to replace their phones regularly (which isn't something I intend to do) and so discontinue updates.

The difference being that leaving a device unpatched on Android compared to BB10 opens a user to more severe known and exploited vulnerabilities simply due to the former having a widespread market share and the latter significantly smaller. In other words, it's disproportionally worth more to white and blackhats' time to search for exploits with more widely used OSes—even government agency leaks almost exclusively detail only Android/iOS exploits for this reason.

So while I could replace my device with a BlackBerry Android phone the issues I have is they are increasingly being assembled in China (eg: the KeyOne) and are prone to the same lack of long-term security update lifecycle (more critical since it's solely Android).

Ultimately I was simply after any real answers to why the unused BBM app on BB10 is consuming data but it seems the only response is to replace the device with a new phone.

Get a new updated device is the only rational answer for a question that went unanswered four years ago when BB10 was still a relatively new OS failure.

Also goes to show that many have falsely assumed that BlackBerry operated from some altruism compared to Android/IOS regarding data gathering. If BB10 had succeeded as the second OS instead of Android or IOS, BlackBerry would have been gathering data to better support the ecosystem that majority of consumers support through “free” to share is better than “cash” to use ecosystem.

[Emmerich]

Also goes to show that many have falsely assumed that BlackBerry operated from some altruism compared to Android/IOS regarding data gathering. If BB10 had succeeded as the second OS instead of Android or IOS, BlackBerry would have been gathering data to better support the ecosystem that majority of consumers support through “free” to share is better than “cash” to use ecosystem.

It certainly raises questions, but also going along with such an assumption it would affect more than just their BB10 users tbh. This does assume though that what is being observed is data collection, despite the app never even have been configured. Seems no one around here knows so there's a lot speculation—on one extreme hand-waving the issue as non-important and on the other claiming they're siphoning all data.

In one topic about this a user claimed in an almost fatalistic manner (paraphrasing) it's 'all in their ToS anyway, they collect everything' (which btw would affect all Blackberry users), however I've read their privacy policy a couple times and regarding the type of data collection people have speculated is occurring (as one specific example: non-BBM contacts) it doesn't cover this (as mentioned previously in that example they explicitly state only BBM contacts are synchronized). That said there are some parts of it which I do think would be worth some clarification from Blackberry.

One curious thing I've read from posts in such topics but haven't tested myself is allegedly BBM only consumes mobile not Wi-Fi data, which if true would mean it could avoid any packet sniffing clues over user-controlled Wi-Fi. Certainly more transparency would be nice but it mightn't happen if users don't care and talk about it.

[Chuck Finley69]

It certainly raises questions, but also going along with such an assumption it would affect more than just their BB10 users tbh. This does assume though that what is being observed is data collection, despite the app never even have been configured. Seems no one around here knows so there's a lot speculation—on one extreme hand-waving the issue as non-important and on the other claiming they're siphoning all data.

In one topic about this a user claimed in an almost fatalistic manner (paraphrasing) it's 'all in their ToS anyway, they collect everything' (which btw would affect all Blackberry users), however I've read their privacy policy a couple times and regarding the type of data collection people have speculated is occurring (as one specific example: non-BBM contacts) it doesn't cover this (as mentioned previously in that example they explicitly state only BBM contacts are synchronized). That said there are some parts of it which I do think would be worth some clarification from Blackberry.

One curious thing I've read from posts in such topics but haven't tested myself is allegedly BBM only consumes mobile not Wi-Fi data, which if true would mean it could avoid any packet sniffing clues over user-controlled Wi-Fi. Certainly more transparency would be nice but it mightn't happen if users don't care and talk about it.

Users care until they have to choose between paying subscription or sharing user data. The it's the “if free, then it's for me kicks in.”

[Thud Hardsmack]

I'd be interested to hear from them to know if that is what they mean, as my general point in the previous posts is that what you described will also occur to the majority of Android devices after a couple years, since manufacturers expect consumers to replace their phones regularly (which isn't something I intend to do) and so discontinue updates.

The difference being that leaving a device unpatched on Android compared to BB10 opens a user to more severe known and exploited vulnerabilities simply due to the former having a widespread market share and the latter significantly smaller. In other words, it's disproportionally worth more to white and blackhats' time to search for exploits with more widely used OSes—even government agency leaks almost exclusively detail only Android/iOS exploits for this reason.

So while I could replace my device with a BlackBerry Android phone the issues I have is they are increasingly being assembled in China (eg: the KeyOne) and are prone to the same lack of long-term security update lifecycle (more critical since it's solely Android).

Ultimately I was simply after any real answers to why the unused BBM app on BB10 is consuming data but it seems the only response is to replace the device with a new phone.

The reason the suggestion is a new device is because BBM is a core process in BB10. It can't be removed or altered. So therefore your options are to either wipe and reinstall the aged, outdated software then hope it works, or get something else. Your concerns about Android devices lagging behind in updates do not apply to the Google Pixels or (currently) BlackBerry Android as they update monthly. Google will officially support devices for about 3 years with the most current OS, older devices will gradually not be able to install the latest and greatest but will still receive patches for a spell. BlackBerry Android seems to depend on the device despite promises to keep updates current.

[valer466]

I'd be interested to hear from them to know if that is what they mean, as my general point in the previous posts is that what you described will also occur to the majority of Android devices after a couple years, since manufacturers expect consumers to replace their phones regularly (which isn't something I intend to do) and so discontinue updates.

Yes that's what I mean, and Yes it will happen to any piece of software that gets outdated. Continued updates on older hardware running in conjunction with older software just won't happen. It's not mechanical that can be fixed with duct tape or a new spare part.

You can chose to wipe or reload the OS and see where the BBM drain takes you. If that's all you need. Vulnerabilities isn't dependent on how exclusive a device is. A vulnerability is a vulnerability. No duct tape here too.

[Emmerich]

Vulnerabilities isn't dependent on how exclusive a device is. A vulnerability is a vulnerability. No duct tape here too.

On the surface it's correct though it's not as simple as that. There's a reason I stated 'known and exploited' vulnerabilities. People still have to discover them. If no one is targeting the OS then it's less of a risk. A risk all the same but a vastly smaller one than running an Android device after 1-3 years depending on the update lifecycle.

Take a look at the CVE list of security vulnerabilities for BB10 vs Android OS. Android has had 1836 known vulnerabilities compared to the BB10 database with a mere 4 total—3 of which don't even affect my device and the other regards verification of apps from BB World.

Take also a look at the leaked government files of security exploits they use for devices and search for Blackberry 10. It's not even considered since so few apparently use it. If a vulnerability isn't known and something isn't a target it's not quite as black and white.

[valer466]

On the surface it's correct though it's not as simple as that. There's a reason I stated 'known and exploited' vulnerabilities. People still have to discover them. If no one is targeting the OS then it's less of a risk. A risk all the same but a vastly smaller one than running an Android device after 1-3 years depending on the update lifecycle.

Take a look at the CVE list of security vulnerabilities for BB10 vs Android OS. Android has had 1836 known vulnerabilities compared to the BB10 database with a mere 4 total—3 of which don't even affect my device and the other regards verification of apps from BB World.

Take also a look at the leaked government files of security exploits they use for devices and search for Blackberry 10. It's not even considered since so few apparently use it. If a vulnerability isn't known and something isn't a target it's not quite as black and white.

Been there done that. BB10 is for those who can replace batteries of their devices for years together and assume nothing is going to go wrong with it. All the best.