Automattic / Automattic/pocket-casts-android

Downloading on metered connection despite auto download setting

Open
#105 4 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
[Area] Downloads [Priority] Low [Type] Bug Migrated
Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
2.8k
Forks
308
Avg merge
1d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
143

Description

We've had a few reports of the app downloading over a metered connection despite the setting to only download on unmetered connections. It seems like the reports are of this happening when a download starts on an unmetered connection and then the phone switches to a metered connection.

Report from August 2021:

> I love the product, thanks for all your hard work!
>
> I'm having an issue with podcasts downloading over cellular data even when I have the toggle selected for "Only on unmetered WiFi" selected.
>
> I think the issue is caused by this sequence:

> 1. While moving through a public space my phone connects to an unmetered open WiFi network.
> 2. Pocket casts begins to download a large number of episodes in the background.
> 3. My phone disconnects for the public WiFi network.
> 4. The downloads continue over the cellular connection (where I am paying for usage).
>
> I wanted to report this sequence in case it's not already on your radar as it's a big annoyance and cost for me.
>
> Perhaps the OS provides a hook or callback when the connection type changes where you could suspend active downloads when switching onto a metered connection?
>
> I'm running version 7.18.0 on Android 11 on a Moto G Power.

Report from February 2022:

> I started downloading a 2.7GB video podcast, while connected to WiFi. During which, my ISP had an unexpected outage. Unbeknownst to me, the download continued via cell data. At $10 per gigabyte, that one download is costing me nearly 30 bucks.

@geekygecko was unable to reproduce this in October 2021 when we were preparing to release 7.19

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported sequence on Android: begin a large download on unmetered Wi-Fi, then switch to a metered connection or trigger a Wi-Fi outage. Compare the behavior with the “Only on unmetered WiFi” setting and confirm that active downloads stop or otherwise respect the setting after the connection changes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
mobile, networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
32/100

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