Set Daily Data Limits with Google’s Datally App for Android

Ever since signing up for that 4GB promo plan last fall, I’ve rarely come close to hitting my monthly data cap. The only exception was recently when I went traveling through Newfoundland and Toronto. By default, the data usage settings on your Android phone allow you to set monthly limits, but what if you want to set daily limits on data too? That’s where the updated Datally app from Google can help.

Google first introduced the Datally Android app last year and this newest update introduces several new features to help you better manage your mobile data consumption. More specifically, there’s a guest mode and the ability to track daily usage too.

With the guest mode, you can define how much data someone is allowed to consume if they’re borrowing your phone. This data limit applies until you decide to turn off guest mode. You can (and should) set an optional password, though I’m rather uncomfortable with people borrowing my phone at all.

The daily limit feature in Datally might be a little more useful. Have you ever had the experience where you burned through almost all of your monthly data within the first week or two, leaving you to hunt for available Wi-Fi for the remainder of the month? With the daily limit, you can ration it out. And just like the monthly limit in Android, the daily limit can result in merely a warning or you can get it to block data usage for the rest of the day.

Two more features were introduced in the updated Datally app. First, Unused Apps will show you what apps you’re not using but that are still consuming mobile data. These are those pesky background apps that you forget about as they leach up your monthly allotment. Second, there’s a Wi-Fi Map that works like so many other third-party Wi-Fi maps. It’ll help you look for the best nearby networks if you want to switch from mobile data to Wi-Fi.

As expected, Datally can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store and the new features should roll out today.