Why does the snapd service use so much data?





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I am on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Updated the system to the latest. Recently I noticed something unusual on Ubuntu with my Internet connection. My limited Internet quota was used up quickly by something invisible. As a user came from Windows this was something odd as Ubuntu never did such a thing to me. I installed nethogs and found out that the devil who vanished my data was /usr/lib/snapd/snapd



I found a somewhat similar question, but it does not answer what I am going to ask. Removing snapd from start up did not help either.




  • Why does snapd use this much data?


  • Is there a way to stop those connections without disabling snap apps?



    nethogs interface showing culprit












share|improve this question

























  • How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago













  • @mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago











  • @mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago


















4















I am on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Updated the system to the latest. Recently I noticed something unusual on Ubuntu with my Internet connection. My limited Internet quota was used up quickly by something invisible. As a user came from Windows this was something odd as Ubuntu never did such a thing to me. I installed nethogs and found out that the devil who vanished my data was /usr/lib/snapd/snapd



I found a somewhat similar question, but it does not answer what I am going to ask. Removing snapd from start up did not help either.




  • Why does snapd use this much data?


  • Is there a way to stop those connections without disabling snap apps?



    nethogs interface showing culprit












share|improve this question

























  • How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago













  • @mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago











  • @mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago














4












4








4








I am on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Updated the system to the latest. Recently I noticed something unusual on Ubuntu with my Internet connection. My limited Internet quota was used up quickly by something invisible. As a user came from Windows this was something odd as Ubuntu never did such a thing to me. I installed nethogs and found out that the devil who vanished my data was /usr/lib/snapd/snapd



I found a somewhat similar question, but it does not answer what I am going to ask. Removing snapd from start up did not help either.




  • Why does snapd use this much data?


  • Is there a way to stop those connections without disabling snap apps?



    nethogs interface showing culprit












share|improve this question
















I am on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Updated the system to the latest. Recently I noticed something unusual on Ubuntu with my Internet connection. My limited Internet quota was used up quickly by something invisible. As a user came from Windows this was something odd as Ubuntu never did such a thing to me. I installed nethogs and found out that the devil who vanished my data was /usr/lib/snapd/snapd



I found a somewhat similar question, but it does not answer what I am going to ask. Removing snapd from start up did not help either.




  • Why does snapd use this much data?


  • Is there a way to stop those connections without disabling snap apps?



    nethogs interface showing culprit









18.04 internet snap nethogs






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 21 hours ago









Zanna

51.3k13140243




51.3k13140243










asked 2 days ago









Nuwan ThisaraNuwan Thisara

1,03811435




1,03811435













  • How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago













  • @mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago











  • @mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago



















  • How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago













  • @mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

    – mikewhatever
    2 days ago











  • @mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago

















How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

– mikewhatever
2 days ago







How much is "this much data"? What is "My limited Internet quota"? Why do you assume snapd is "the devil who vanished my data"? What you've posted is a screenshot of a terminal window, that shows snapd downloading something at 1.4MBps at that moment. Does it prove anything?

– mikewhatever
2 days ago















@mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago





@mikewhatever I have 500MB of data that is why it is called limited, in several minutes it is over without opening any apps, just booting up the system. It is a screenshot just to show what I found out. If you think this is not the reason, can you help me to figure out why my data quota is over within several minutes with no visible apps opened.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago













Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

– mikewhatever
2 days ago





Ubuntu updates itself in the background by default same as pretty much any OS. A newly installed system usually have hundreds of MB of updates. There is no apparent reason to believe that snapd is "the devil" or Ubuntu did something to you from what you've posted. 500MB is really limited, especially if the Ubuntu machine is not the only device using it.

– mikewhatever
2 days ago













@mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago





@mikewhatever BTW this is not a newly installed system. I installed this version soon after it released.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















3














By default, snaps are set to refresh themselves 4 times per day. If you are using many snaps, this could be a data intensive process for you.



Perhaps limiting the number of times per day that the snaps refresh would help. You can adjust this on your system with



sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri,15:00



to set the update of snaps to occur on Friday at 15:00, or tell snapd that you are using a metered connection:



sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold



I suspect (but cannot prove) that snapd looks at the "Restrict Background Data" flag of the network connection (as shown in the image below), to determine that the connection is metered. If you choose to set your connections to "metered" then to update your snaps, you will need to



sudo snap refresh



on occastion, just as you would occasionally sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade



=====



For more information on this, please see https://docs.snapcraft.io/system-options/87



enter image description here






share|improve this answer


























  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • @NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago











  • I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

    – Charles Green
    14 hours ago












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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









3














By default, snaps are set to refresh themselves 4 times per day. If you are using many snaps, this could be a data intensive process for you.



Perhaps limiting the number of times per day that the snaps refresh would help. You can adjust this on your system with



sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri,15:00



to set the update of snaps to occur on Friday at 15:00, or tell snapd that you are using a metered connection:



sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold



I suspect (but cannot prove) that snapd looks at the "Restrict Background Data" flag of the network connection (as shown in the image below), to determine that the connection is metered. If you choose to set your connections to "metered" then to update your snaps, you will need to



sudo snap refresh



on occastion, just as you would occasionally sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade



=====



For more information on this, please see https://docs.snapcraft.io/system-options/87



enter image description here






share|improve this answer


























  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • @NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago











  • I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

    – Charles Green
    14 hours ago
















3














By default, snaps are set to refresh themselves 4 times per day. If you are using many snaps, this could be a data intensive process for you.



Perhaps limiting the number of times per day that the snaps refresh would help. You can adjust this on your system with



sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri,15:00



to set the update of snaps to occur on Friday at 15:00, or tell snapd that you are using a metered connection:



sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold



I suspect (but cannot prove) that snapd looks at the "Restrict Background Data" flag of the network connection (as shown in the image below), to determine that the connection is metered. If you choose to set your connections to "metered" then to update your snaps, you will need to



sudo snap refresh



on occastion, just as you would occasionally sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade



=====



For more information on this, please see https://docs.snapcraft.io/system-options/87



enter image description here






share|improve this answer


























  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • @NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago











  • I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

    – Charles Green
    14 hours ago














3












3








3







By default, snaps are set to refresh themselves 4 times per day. If you are using many snaps, this could be a data intensive process for you.



Perhaps limiting the number of times per day that the snaps refresh would help. You can adjust this on your system with



sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri,15:00



to set the update of snaps to occur on Friday at 15:00, or tell snapd that you are using a metered connection:



sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold



I suspect (but cannot prove) that snapd looks at the "Restrict Background Data" flag of the network connection (as shown in the image below), to determine that the connection is metered. If you choose to set your connections to "metered" then to update your snaps, you will need to



sudo snap refresh



on occastion, just as you would occasionally sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade



=====



For more information on this, please see https://docs.snapcraft.io/system-options/87



enter image description here






share|improve this answer















By default, snaps are set to refresh themselves 4 times per day. If you are using many snaps, this could be a data intensive process for you.



Perhaps limiting the number of times per day that the snaps refresh would help. You can adjust this on your system with



sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri,15:00



to set the update of snaps to occur on Friday at 15:00, or tell snapd that you are using a metered connection:



sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold



I suspect (but cannot prove) that snapd looks at the "Restrict Background Data" flag of the network connection (as shown in the image below), to determine that the connection is metered. If you choose to set your connections to "metered" then to update your snaps, you will need to



sudo snap refresh



on occastion, just as you would occasionally sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade



=====



For more information on this, please see https://docs.snapcraft.io/system-options/87



enter image description here







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 2 days ago

























answered 2 days ago









Charles GreenCharles Green

14.2k73959




14.2k73959













  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • @NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago











  • I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

    – Charles Green
    14 hours ago



















  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • @NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago











  • I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

    – Nuwan Thisara
    2 days ago











  • Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

    – Charles Green
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

    – Charles Green
    14 hours ago

















Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago





Thank you very much for your answer. I will try this and tell you if my problem is fixed.

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago













@NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

– Charles Green
2 days ago





@NuwanThisara I hope that it does what you need! You may also want to consider disabling the auto update services for apt.

– Charles Green
2 days ago













I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago





I set the refresh time to fri.15:00 but when I tested nethogs just after system boot, snapd was running and downloading something consuming data. I stopped it. What is the problem?

– Nuwan Thisara
2 days ago













Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

– Charles Green
2 days ago





Try sudo snap set system refresh.timer to see if the setting holds over reboot. I would hope so, but I don't use snaps. This is actually part of the reason why.

– Charles Green
2 days ago




1




1





@NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

– Charles Green
14 hours ago





@NuwanThisara Because snapd is a service and needs to be running to load your snaps, it has to start at boot time to manage the applications that you have loaded using it. I do hope that setting the refresh interval to once per week will help with the data consumption, as the only alternative that I know of, is setting the internet connection to a 'metered' connection, which may be good for your situation anyhow.

– Charles Green
14 hours ago


















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