If you have to keep an eye on your iPhone data usage – whether it’s due to data caps or roaming fees – then you might like Onavo, a new app that will monitor and compress your data so you can use (and pay for) less data.
Once you download the Onavo app and register your device, your data is routed through Ovaco’s services, which compress your data and help you track your usage, identifying for example which apps are data-download-intensive.
Once installed the app runs in the background of your iPhone and automatically compresses your download data (not your streaming data, it’s worth pointing out). The app can be toggled on and off and will pause itself when you’re using a WiFi connection. You can also opt to turn off email compression so that data is ignored.
The trade-off of saving money on data here is, of course, running your data through a third-party service. Onavo does say “we take our users’ privacy very seriously,” storing the minimum amount of data – all aggregated and anonymized. Some metadata is kept to be able to generate the reports. Onavo says it doesn’t story any data and can’t read HTTPS traffic, with the exception of Exchange Mail authentication info, something that users will have to explicitly approve in order to set up.
The app works on iPhones and iPads and is coming to Android soon. It’s currently free, but the startup indicates this is just a limited-time offer and it will eventually charge a fee to use the service. In the meantime, Onavo announced today that it has raised $3 million in funding from Sequora Capital and Magma Venture Partners.
